The time for explanations once again arose but this time on the other side of the Atlantic for the founder of Facebook who had a hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday 22 May to clarify the question of how personal data is used by the social network in light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
But given the failure of being able to answer all the questions put to him, it will be in writing that Mark Zuckerberg will have to catch up
His testimony, in effect, does not bring anything much to light. It comes as no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg began his speech with excuses and his famous, “We did not take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a mistake and I'm sorry for it” in a direct replication of his testimony to the US Congress in the middle of last April (see EUROPE 11999).
In his defence, Mr Zuckerberg emphasised the “social mission" of the digital platform. He confided that he wanted to “put things right” and highlighted all the measures taken since the scandal.
For more than an hour, the Presidents of the political groups asked him about a whole range of subjects: what becomes of the data of users once their accounts have been erased; the possibility for the network collecting the data of non-users; inappropriate content on the platform; data crossing between Facebook and WhatsApp; the increase in bogus accounts; taxes that have not been paid by Facebook and even the monopolistic position of the social network.
The President of the EPP, Manfred Weber, asked him “Is Cambridge Analytica an isolated case or is it just the tip of the iceberg? Can you guarantee Europeans that there will be no new scandals in three, six or nine months time?”
The CEO of Facebook said that the changes made since 2014 would “prevent any repetition”. He explained that an app developer would no longer be able to have access to this level of data. He did add, however, that apps are currently being analysed and that this could take several months.
GDPR. The leaders of the political groups, above all, used this opportunity to obtain a firm commitment from the social network on respecting the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will enter into application next Friday.
Mr Zuckerberg answered, “We think that we will be ready on 25 May, in three days time. A substantial team is working on the matter”.
Some of the many questions that remained unanswered include the following: the question from the president of the ALDE group, Guy Verhofstadt, on possible financial compensation for European users who have been the victims of breaches of their data.
Faced with the discontent from the Presidents, Mr Zuckerberg made a commitment to carrying out a personal follow-up in an effort to answer all the questions put to him. Another catch-up session will also be organised in a few weeks time by Parliament's civil liberties committee attended by legal experts from Facebook in an effort to tackle the question which, according to Mr Tajani, will be “more technical and substantial”.
The first reactions are therefore somewhat mitigated. Although Antonio Tajani considered that this hearing was “clearly a success”, MEPs appear less convinced. In a press release, the S&D group considered that Mark Zuckerberg had failed to convince Parliament that there would not be any foreign interference in the European elections in 2019.
On a more optimistic note, the European Commissioner for Justice, Vera Jourova, interprets the changes that have been made as “as signs that Facebook will assume more responsibility for the huge amount of personal data their users entrust in them.” (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)