INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Mr Zuckerberg stayed beyond the allotted 75 minutes but did not answer all
questions put to him
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to EU lawmakers for the company's role in the Cambridge
Analytica scandal and for allowing fake news to proliferate on its platform.Mr Zuckerberg apologised for Facebook's tools being used "for
harm".But his testimony did not please all MEPs at the meeting, some of whom felt he had dodged their questions.One leading UK politician
later said the session at the European Parliament had been a "missed opportunity"."Unfortunately the format of questioning allowed Mr
Zuckerberg to cherry-pick his responses and not respond to each individual point," said Damian Collins, chair of the UK Parliament's Digital
Culture Media and Sport Committee.The format was very different from that of Mr Zuckerberg's testimony to US lawmakers in April.Image
copyrightEuropean ParliamentImage caption
Mr Zuckerberg met European Parliament President Antonio Tajani before the QA
session
While the US politicians took turns to cross-examine the Facebook chief in a series of back-and-forth exchanges, the
leaders of the European Parliament's various political groups each asked several questions apiece.The tech chief had to wait until they were
all delivered before responding.Mr Zuckerberg spent 22 minutes going through the huge number of questions put to him during the session and
was able to pick and choose which to give answers to.Several of the politicians expressed frustration at this, and one accused Mr Zuckerberg
of having "asked for this format for a reason".A spokesman for Facebook later contacted the TheIndianSubcontinent to say it had not chosen
This was subsequently confirmed by the parliament's president, Antonio Tajani.In a follow-up press conference, Mr Tajani added that the MEPs
had been aware Mr Zuckerberg's time was limited yet had decided to use up much of the allotted period speaking themselves.He also drew
attention to the fact that the chief executive had agreed to provide follow-up written answers.Unaddressed topicsMr Zuckerberg did not
address questions about whether Facebook was a monopoly and how it plans to use data from its WhatsApp division.Nor did he directly answer
questions about shadow profiles or whether non-Facebook users' data should be collected.Image copyrightEuropean ParliamentImage caption
Guy Verhofstadt had threatened not to attend when the event was set to be restricted from public view
Several
of the MEPs had also voiced scepticism about the business.Guy Verhofstadt MEP had asked Mr Zuckerberg if he wanted to be remembered as "the
genius who created a digital monster", which the Facebook boss did not answer.British MEP and leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage expressed his
view that Facebook was not a politically neutral platform, asking whether the social network "wilfully discriminated" against
right-of-centre commentators.Mr Zuckerberg did respond to this point, saying Facebook had "never made a decision about what content was
allowed on the basis of political orientation".Tackling other questions, he also said he expected to find other apps that had misused
customer data and pointed out that an internal investigation into thousands of third-party developers to see if there similar cases to the
Cambridge Analytica scandal would take "many months".So far, he said, Facebook had suspended more than 200 apps.Analysis:Image
copyrightEPABy Dave Lee, North America technology reporterThe European Parliament has been left wanting more.The format of the meeting meant
that rather than tackle specific concerns - particularly about the tracking of non-Facebook users - Mr Zuckerberg was able to group the
questions into broad areas
That meant he could give broad answers
Reading any blog from the company published in the past three months would give you much the same information as we heard today.This clearly
angered several MEPs, who expressed frustration over what they saw as insufficient responses to their concerns
Then again, how detailed can you be when you have been given less than half an hour to answer huge, almost existential, questions Facebook
is under close examination, but maybe so too should be the way politicians question these incredibly powerful figures.If you're following
along, here's a scorecard for Mr Zuckerberg's "tough" committee appearances: Congress achieved little, Europe even less.'Committed to
Europe'The meeting between Mr Zuckerberg and the European Parliament's political group leaders had originally been planned to be held in
But that sparked a wave of criticism resulting it being livestreamed via the web.One popular topic among the MEPs was an imminent shake-up
of data privacy rules.Image copyrightEuropean ParliamentImage caption
Nigel Farage challenged Facebook's claims to
impartiality
Facebook recently transferred 1.5 billion of its international users from the jurisdiction of its European
headquarters, in Ireland, to that of its US headquarters, with some speculating this was to avoid costly legal action resulting from
breaches of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).The sweeping changes to data laws will give consumers much more control over
how their personal details are used
Several of the MEPs challenged Mr Zuckerberg over whether he was truly committed to obeying the regulation.Media captionWATCH: What is
GDPRHe responded that he expected Facebook would be fully compliant with the law by the time it came into force on Friday.He added that the
app had already presented European members with the revised settings required and "a large percentage" of the users had already reviewed
them.UK MPs are keen to pose their own questions to Mr Zuckerberg about the Cambridge Analytica scandal but the Facebook founder has so far
declined to make a trip to the UK.
