Thanks for sticking with us. Zuckerberg will be back tomorrow morning at 10 ET for another hearing, so tune in with us then.
"I'm sorry you had to listen to me. This concludes today's hearing." — Chuck Grassley, literally just now.
I have no idea how to paraphrase what he is saying. Something about "reducing cynicism."
Chuck Grassley ending on a particularly incoherent note.
Okay, we're ending on bias against conservatives.
Closing comments are my favorite kind of comments.
Closing comments from Sen. Thune. "Been a long hearing."
"How does the internet work" has been the subtext for most of the day.
Really feels like we're walking slowly into "how does the internet work."
Zuckerberg does not appear to support this.
Senator wants to know whether Facebook would support an internet-wide privacy law.
Back to “who owns the data?”
“It feels like you own the data,” Tester says.
Tester pushes the idea that Facebook can't do a real audit because it doesn't have any control over what happened to the data of 2 billion people after it was scraped from the site.
And now Mr. Tester, which is a great name for the final boss in a five-hour hearing.
According to photos of his notes, Zuckerberg expected questions about whether he should resign.
Still more questions about profile deletion that Zuckerberg doesn’t have all the specifics on.
"I'm going to echo a lot of what I've heard my colleagues say." — Senator really amping up the excitement factor here in hour five.
Questions all over the place at this point. Senator asks for help with rural internet, Zuckerberg says Facebook has a group working on it.
BTW my soul left my body about 30 minutes ago, and I am live blogging as a ghost now.
"This episode has clearly hurt us and has clearly made it harder for us to achieve the social mission we care about. We now have to do a lot of work to rebuild trust." — Zuckerberg.
Hassan argues that Facebook doesn't have a financial interest in protecting consumer privacy.
Says "there is no financial incentive” to protect users’ privacy. Zuckerberg responds that "this episode has clearly hurt us."
"We've heard you apologize numerous times and promise to change. But here we are again."
Good question from Sen. Hassan.
"There’s clearly tension … between your bottom line and what’s best for users.”
Zuckerberg: “We give people the ability to take their data to another app if they want” — not the formulation of that agreement I think a lot of users would use.
Zuckerberg says the ad-supported model lets them connect everyone, and a subscription model would not. But he says subscriptions are worth thinking through.
Has Facebook seen any substantial drop-off in users? No, although Zuckerberg is aware of #deletefacebook
“Do you have any idea how many of your users actually read the terms of service?” No. Most people probably don’t read the whole thing.
The questions after that was could Facebook be vulnerable to some kind of a hack (yes), and would it inform users (yes)?
Oh good, we're in hour four and a senator is asking how Cambridge Analytica got access to the data.
Kennedy is asking whether he can have control over his Facebook data, which he already does, and he is considered one of the better questioners we've seen today.
"Tell 'em you want it written in English. In non-Swahili."
Terms of service, he says, are “meant to cover Facebook’s rear-end,” and “not to inform users about their rights.”
"Your user agreement sucks."
Kennedy: there are some “impurities in the punch bowl.” A "privacy problem" and a "propaganda problem."
"I'm a little disappointed in this hearing today. I don't think we're connecting." —Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana.
After the Cambridge Analytica incident was first uncovered, did Facebook talk about notifying users and decide against it? Zuckerberg says he doesn’t remember any conversations about it, although they clearly came to that decision.
Sen. Harris: "During the course of this hearing, you’ve been asked several critical questions for which you don’t have answers."
"I'm a proud member of Facebook," Sen. Tillis says, showing a picture of himself on National Sibling Day #HourFour
Tillis not exactly hammering Facebook with this: "If you don’t want to share something, don’t share it, this is a free service.”
Sen. Tillis is trying to draw a distinction between President Obama's app, which disclosed to users what it was doing, to Aleksandr Kogan / Cambridge Analytica's, which obscured it.
“I delete the haters.”
Sen. Tillis referencing Obama campaign’s use of data in 2012.
All right, we're back again.
Thinking it would save a lot of time if Facebook addressed these Senators' queries through their phone mics.
Jesus take the wheel
FIVE-MINUTE RECESS
Another short break.
“We have a whole AI ethics team that is working on developing basically the technology, it’s not just the philosophical principles."
People still don't understand that Facebook doesn't sell customer data to advertisers, but good luck getting them to understand how artificial intelligence works.
Zuckerberg is now saying that AI should be more transparent — that we should be able to understand AI systems.
Hour three is when we enter the "insane conspiracy theory" portion of the day
Zuckerberg calls it a “conspiracy theory” too. “We don’t do that.” Does seem to say when a user is taking a video, they grab that audio.
AHHHHHHH
Here we go, back to that conspiracy: Senator says “constituents fear Facebook is mining audio” for ad tracking.
Do you think you’re a victim? No. Is Facebook a victim? No.
What about the 87 million users? “Senator, I think… yes, they did not want their information to be sold to Cambridge Analytica by a developer.”
Do you believe you’re more responsible with peoples’ data than the federal government would be?
“Yes,” Zuckerberg says.
Have you ever collected the content of phone calls? No, Zuckerberg says. (This is a long-running conspiracy about Facebook.)
Facebook retains your data for at least a year in the hopes that you will reactivate your account, by the way.
"How long do you keep a user's data after they have left?" "I don't know the answer to that," Zuckerberg says.
Asking about surveillance of activist groups. Unless law enforcement has a clear reason to receive information, Zuckerberg says “we’re going to push against that across the board.”
Last year, it seemed like Facebook was really focusing on adding human moderators. Zuckerberg making it clear that it's not what he sees as the long-term goal.
Zuckerberg brought up using "AI tools" again. He is waving AI around like a magic talisman to ward off questioning today.
Sen. Booker asking about housing discrimination in ads too. This scandal broke in 2016, and continues to haunt Facebook.
Cory Booker is filibustering
Getting a history of the Facebook platform, and why Facebook made the decision years ago to pull friends’ information into apps.
Glad Zuckerberg says Facebook is prepared for the 2018 election since we're going to be there by the time we're through.
Oh my god that's like 15 senators left
We are two-thirds through the senators, someone just said.
Admits Facebook can’t ensure all Russian trolls are off the platform. “Senator, no, I can’t guarantee that.”
Zuckerberg: "Senator, I try not to come to DC"
Will Facebook come and “be a strong advocate” for the Honest Ads Act? Zuckerberg says the biggest thing Facebook can do is "implement it."
"Is Facebook a media company" remains the most tedious and irrelevant question ever asked by the media
Sen. Sullivan asking "what is Facebook" gives us a great opportunity to highlight the all-time best Facebook ad, "Facebook is a chair."
Facebook has been answering this question (tech company) for its entire existence.
"There’s some that are saying that you’re the world’s biggest publisher.” Is Facebook a "tech company" or a "publisher?"
Sen. Sullivan asks whether regulation will just empower Facebook. It's a strong possibility, which Zuckerberg, to his credit, acknowledges.
Welcome to the dramatic third hour of today's hearings
Senator tries to get Zuckerberg to bad-mouth China, not knowing that he falls asleep every night dreaming of making service available there.
"You're supposed to answer yes to this question."
Regarding Facebook's growth story: “Only in America, would you agree with that?” “Senator, mostly in America.”
Has anyone kept track of how many senators have asked questions? How many more have yet to go?
Discussing recent ICE plan for “extreme vetting” — system to mine data for law enforcement purposes. Will Facebook cooperate with the administration about it? “We would not proactively do that.” Would decline to help if not required by law.
Facebook has also said that they assume every profile on the entire site has been scraped. So let's assume that Russia or China could have gotten it all if they wanted.
Has Russian or Chinese government harvested Facebook data? Zuckerberg says they kicked off an investigation, and “I imagine we’ll find some things.” Not sure about those countries specifically.
Civil society groups in the country recently said Facebook still isn’t doing enough.
Good on Flake for asking Facebook more about the situation in Myanmar, though. Zuckerberg talks up hiring moderators and working with third-party groups on the ground. He also wants to promote news literacy.
Jeff Flake out here bragging about visiting Zimbabwe
Shout out to rapacious commercial predators
"Will you marry me?" "In principle, yes. But the details matter a lot."
Senators know they might be able to get Zuckerberg to make a promise here that they can hold him to later. The best dodge is to agree "in principle" and then say "the details matter" so that you can eventually oppose it based on "the details."
Senators want Zuckerberg's sign-on for specific legislation. He keeps agreeing to things “in principle” without quite wanting to commit.
Would Zuckerberg support legislation to make opt-in “the American standard?” “As a principle, yes I would,” but says the “details matter a lot.”
If you are a consulting firm selling dopamine loops please DM me
Hire a consulting firm to "get more dopamine feedback loops." WHAT
Are companies focusing on "dopamine feedback loops"? Zuckerbeg says no.
Asking now whether teens specifically are getting addicted to social media. "To your point about teens” — understands concerns of parents.
Interesting that this senator has also managed to position himself behind the Mr. Sasse sign.
Senator trying to argue there’s “not a unified view” that the company should “police more and more speech.”
Finally we're talking about abortion
“Can you define hate speech?”
“I think that this is a really hard question.”
Something that we are learning today is that Facebook.com was started in, get this, a dorm room
“There are a number of important points in there” = your question was very long
A story from today: Sen. Coons was apparently being impersonated on Facebook.
Mentions how Facebook allowed housing advertisers to target users by race. Facebook was recently sued for that one.
Sen. Coons: "There’s a lot of examples where ad-targeting has led to results that I think we would all disagree with.”
Interesting that each senator gets just four minutes and this one has used, by my estimate, over 14 hours
Sorry for embedding my own tweet but I really like the way this looks with the caption
Very clear through line Zuckerberg wants to get across: we give people tools to control what they share. Less discussion about how often those controls are used in practice.
Do you store “text history, user content, activity, device location”? Some of that, yes, with permission, Zuckerberg says.
Not since Maria Cantwell have we had so little idea of what a senator is talking about
How many data “categories” of information does Facebook store? Zuckerberg says he's not sure what that means.
Senator asks if Zuckerberg would be open to an “information fiduciary” — some kind of third party. Zuckerberg says he would consider.
Having a discussion about who "owns" data. “You own it in the sense that you chose to put it there,” Zuckerberg says. Facebook getting a “license.”
Here's another case where the hearing is devoting valuable time to simply understanding how Facebook works.
If you message someone about say, Black Panther, it won’t send you a Black Panther ad.
If you know how to email in WhatsApp please DM me
“If I’m emailing within WhatsApp, does that ever inform your advertisers?” No, it’s encrypted.
Good point from Sen. Schatz on how Facebook's terms of service are basically incomprehensible to the average person, at least without hours of study.
Back to terms of service: “people have no earthly idea what they’re signing up for.”
"I would hope that what we do with data is not surprising to people,” Zuckerberg says, and adds yes, Cambridge Analytica incident was a surprise.
And we have our first song written about today's proceedings.
Something a little different with these questions: Don’t you have “free-market” incentives to protect user data?
Someone bet this senator that he couldn't say "thumb on the scale" more than 10 times in four minutes and he just won.
Something I am thinking about is that no one looks good when you take a candid photo of them testifying before Congress. It's not personal. If it were you, or me, we would be haunted by these images for the rest of our lives.
Good question: Facebook says it’s working on political disclosures, but how do you look behind a shell corporation?
Valid government ID, and verifying the location. But admits there could still be someone else acting there.
Something I want to mention here is that the Verge video team has already put together a supercut of Bill Nelson saying "chocolate" today. Stay tuned.
“Is the terms of service a take it or leave it proposition?”
Zuckerberg doesn’t quite answer. The service is “really defined by people” because users choose what they share.
What did Facebook do to certify Cambridge Analytica had deleted the data?
Zuckerberg says Facebook received a legal contract from them.
Sen. Whitehouse asking about whether Kogan, the researcher behind the app that harvested information for CA, has been banned. Zuckerberg says he believes he is.
Zuckerberg with a correction. Was asked why Facebook didn't ban CA in 2015, said it was because they weren't on the platform. They actually were on the platform, "we made a mistake by not [banning them]."
All right, Zuckerberg is back, accompanied by the sound of gaveling.
DM me
I'm enjoying the break.
“Do you want a break now?”
“Sure, I mean that was pretty good.” Five minute break.
(Republicans control all three branches of government) "When are Republicans going to get a fair shake?" — Ted Cruz
“Why was Palmer Luckey fired?” Zuckerberg says answering would be inappropriate. “Not because of a political view.”
Move on dot org with this line of questioning, Ted
Zuckerberg says he’s trying to be aware of a left-leaning bias in Silicon Valley.
If there is one thing we have learned in the past 18 months, it's that conservative voices had near-unfettered access to Facebook's platform and exploited it to maximum effect.
Mentions the apparent shutdown of the “Chick-fil-A appreciation page.”
Here we go. Cruz has used other opportunities like this to rail against a perceived bias against conservatives, manifesting in the company's policies.
And now here's one of Cambridge Analytica's least successful clients of all time, Ted Cruz.
Cruz: “Does Facebook consider itself a neutral public forum?”
Zuckerberg trying to give a nuanced answer. “Platform for all ideas.”
Shouldn’t Facebook offer a way for people to see which data the company has on users?
As a lot of people recently discovered: “We have already a download your information tool.”
“Which you agree to an opt-in as opposed to an opt-out?”
“That certainly makes sense to discuss.”
“My reservation about your testimony today is I don’t see how you can change your business model unless there are specific rules of the road.”
Facebook apology tour T-shirt, but in the style of a band tour T-shirt.
Blumenthal: "We’ve seen the apology tours before.”
Sen. Blumenthal digging in on whether Facebook violated the 2011 FTC consent decree.
Declining to take a break is a power move.
Thune just called the witness MR. ZUCKERBERGER
Zuckerberg smiles and says, “We can do a few more” questions, after talk about taking a break.
Zuckerberg: there’s a misperception that we sell data to advertisers.
“You clearly rent it.”
Another terms of service question. Are users properly informed? Do they really understand? More on this specifically than I would have thought.
Is Facebook a platform that is not “neutral,” and is responsible for content?
Zuckerberg ducks the first part. “I agree that we’re responsible for the content.”
Anyway that's my motto.
It's amazing how "move fast and break things" came back to haunt Facebook in the EXACT SAME WAYS that "don't be evil" came back to haunt Google. The lesson is to never have a motto. I don't care how good your motto is! It will only ever be used against you.
That's a shame, because it's one of the best questions we have heard so far. Facebook is fighting pro-privacy legislation even as it testifies in support of it here today.
Zuckerberg says Facebook has moved from “move fast and break things” to “move fast with stable infrastructure.”
Brings up Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, one of the toughest privacy laws in the country. Why is Facebook fighting it? Ran out of time, unfortunately.
Talking now about Messenger Kids, a Facebook app that was very controversial at launch. Questioning where that data goes. Zuck says it collects "minimal" information, data not shared with third parties.
Zuckerberg is now being asked about Messenger Kids, its app for 6-year-olds. I will never understand why Facebook chose to launch this amidst the current furor.
Zuckerberg keeps pushing the line that people are given minute control over their permissions.
In case you are curious what Wall Street thinks of the testimony so far:
“Would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you stayed in last night?”
Zuckerberg pauses. “Uhhh... no.”
"In general, Facebook does not collect information from other apps that you use," Zuckerberg says. "Unless you specifically share" it, Facebook won't see it. This seems to run contrary to what Onavo does. It's a Facebook acquisition that lets the company see which apps you use and how often you use them.
Blunt pushing this line of questioning. Do people give Facebook specific permission to track across devices? What do the permissions look like? Do they "bundle" the permissions?
Blunt asks about cross-device tracking. Zuckerberg says he doesn’t have all the information on it available right now.
Sen. Blunt has insisted on appearing behind both the Sen. Cornyn and Sen. Blunt name placards, in flagarant violation of Facebook's real identity policies.
Sen. Blunt talking about business cards? Something about seeing the first business card with the Facebook address on it.
This gets to something we talked about earlier — using this time to extract promises from the CEO that he might not make otherwise. So, score a point for Amy Klobuchar.
“Would you support a rule that would require you to notify users of a breach within 72 hours?”
“That makes sense to me,” Zuckerberg says.
Is the CA data being stored in Russia? Zuckerberg says he doesn’t know, but they’re planning an audit, and will take legal action against CA if needed.
Klobuchar brings up transparency from Google and Twitter as well: “Memo to the rest of you.”
Sen. Klobuchar, who’s sponsoring the Honest Ads Act to bring more transparency to online ads, starts off talking about it. Zuckerberg brings up new transparency measures Facebook has been implementing.
Amy Klobuchar begins with an elaborate and incomprehensible metaphor about crowbars
Brings up terms of service. Does the average person understand them? Zuckerberg says "control in-line" is working but there are areas to improve.
Lindsey Graham brandishing the terms of services, which are as thick as a phone book, made for a nice visual.
Oh good, Facebook will write up its own regulations and just send them to Lindsey Graham.
Why is self-regulation a good idea? Zuckerberg says again the real question is what the “right” regulation is. Says Facebook is willing to provide some ideas.
Zuckerberg said that he bought Instagram because it was a good team and they "understood our values" which feels like ................ an incomplete answer.
"You don’t think you have a monopoly?"
"It certainly doesn’t feel like that to me,” Zuck says.
Lots of folks were hoping senators would ask Zuckerberg about its monopoly status.
Winding up to ask about monopoly questions: “If I’m upset with Facebook, what’s the equivalent product that I can sign up for?”
"If somebody who worked for me said this, I’d fire them,” Graham says.
Sen. Graham asks about the infamous post from Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth.
Can Facebook commit to taking down hate speech in 24 hours? Zuckerberg says yes, the company is working on it.
“What’s happening is a terrible tragedy,” Zuckerberg says. Senator interrupts — “we all agree with that.”
Patrick Leahy sounds like he gargled a pint of gravel before he came out this afternoon
Brings up hate speech in Myanmar, points out UN investigators have blamed Facebook for facilitating.
Seems to be asking on the spot whether Zuckerberg can say if they’re Russian trolls.
I like poster boards because they take me back to my high school science fair
Leahy brings out a chart with examples that he says “look a lot like” Russian troll activity.
We have our first poster board of the hearing! This one shows images of Russian propaganda.
The Special Counsel has presumably been in touch with Facebook over the chocolate advertising issue
Has Robert Mueller interviewed Zuckerberg? No, but other Facebook people have been.
Can Facebook track people who have logged out? Zuckerberg mentions cookies, says “want to make sure that I’m precise with my answer.” Says he’ll get back on the answer.
I would liken this hearing so far to a precocious college junior explaining his major to his grandparents at Thanksgiving
Is that the practice with minors? “I do not know.”
Is it true that Facebook collects call and text histories of users that use Android phones? Zuck says Messenger “offers people” a syncing option.
Zuck brings up net neutrality, says “I look at my own story,” and “I only had one option for an ISP to use.”
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi raises the issue of over-regulation, which is .................................... not an issue in America right now.
Do you believe EU regulations should be in the US? Apparently referring to GDPR.
Zuckerberg doesn’t quite say yes, says it “would be somewhat different” because of US sensibilities. But says some GDPR changes under discussion.
Maria Cantwell sounds like any randomly chosen comment under a Mark Zuckerberg Facebook post about visiting a diner in Tuscaloosa.
Can we get back to chocolate advertising, please?
So much packed into every Cantwell question, but it's all winding. Brings up John Bolton. Asks what Facebook is talking about at board meetings.
Cantwell brings up "total information awareness.” Trying to vaguely tie Facebook to other political work, like Palantir, but very hard to follow. Zuckerberg seems confused as well.
She also just asked if he is "aware" of "total information awareness," which, again, WHAT.
During the 2016 campaign, CA worked with the Trump campaign, Cantwell says. Were Facebook employees involved with that? Very confusing question — Zuckerberg says he’s not aware of that.
Cantwell more like can't ask questions well
"STANFORD ANALYTICA" WHAT
Going through a whole line of questioning about Palantir. Has the company scraped data about Facebook? Zuckerberg says he's not aware of that.
Cantwell brings up Palantir. Do you know who that is? Zuck: “I do.”
"You have complete control over who sees it," Zuckerberg says of your Facebook posts, even though the entire reason we are here today is that people in fact did not have that control.
"There will always be a version of Facebook that is free," Zuckerberg says — opening the door to a paid version, perhaps!
Zuckerberg says Facebook will always be free. Hatch asks about the business model. Zuck: “Senator, we run ads.”
Orrin Hatch says the issue is consumer choice. You know, like the choice between Facebook and Instagram.
Odd tone from Hatch. Says "nothing in life is free," regarding data use. Says the issue is transparency.
Sen. Hatch: “most intense public scrutiny I’ve seen” of tech company since Microsoft in the '90s.
Feinstein: Why didn't Facebook ban Cambridge Analytica before now? They weren't advertising on Facebook in 2015, Zuckerberg says.
Good point from Renee, who researches these topics:
Lots of folks are noting that the tone of today's hearing so far has been polite and informational. That could change as we go on, but so far Zuckerberg has effectively managed any outrage the senators may be feeling.
Zuckerberg: “this is an arms race.” Trolls getting better, and so is Facebook.
Back to Feinstein, asking about Russian election meddling. Zuckerberg says 2018 elections will be better. “I have more confidence that we’re going to get this right.”
"We started it in my dorm room" remains such a strange bid for sympathy. Its humble origins are so intertwined with the company's problems: when you start up among a bunch of privileged kids at Harvard, it's easy to be blind to the various bad actors in the world. It's come up twice already today.
Says over “over a five to 10 year period,” Facebook AI tools will be better able to flag hate speech. But right now, the tech isn’t there, still reactive system.
Zuckerberg says company was once “reactive,” taking down content as it’s flagged, but moving more into AI tools. Flagging hate speech is especially nuanced call, he says.
Thune: "The line between legitimate political discourse and hate speech can be hard to identify.”
Zuckerberg: “Overall, I would say we’re going through a broader philosophical shift” at the company — “need to take a more proactive role.”
Thune brings up Facebook’s “14-year history” of apologies. “How is today’s apology different?”
Zuckerberg: when Facebook heard back from Cambridge, “we considered it a closed case.”
On to Cambridge Analytica: “why didn’t you inform those 87 million [people]?” Zuckerberg brings up action they took against Cambridge when they found out.
Nelson brings up what he calls a "pattern of lax data practices" at Facebook, including the 2011 FTC consent decree that the company now operates under. It's a fair point, even if he has seemed less tech savvy than his peers in the Senate so far.
Sen. Nelson brings up whether Facebook is considering a paid, advertising-free version of Facebook. Brings up ads he’s apparently receiving for chocolate.
First question, from Grassley: any other instances like Cambridge Analytica? Zuckerberg says conducting investigation, looking at tens of thousands of apps, auditing suspicious ones.
It's now question time!
Zuckerberg has deviated from his prepared remarks in a few ways so far. For one, he just said Kogan sold data to Cambridge Analytica. Everyone assumed there was money involved, but I believe this is the first time Facebook has said it.
“We have a responsibility to not just build tools, but to make sure they’re used for good.”
Here's the big pullout quote: "But it’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well. That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy. We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here."
If you'd like to follow along with an annotated version of Zuckerberg's prepared testimony, The Washington Post did a nice job.
Zuckerberg reading his written statement now.
Nelson: if tech companies can’t fix “privacy invasions,” then “we are going to have to, we the Congress.”
Sen. Bill Nelson from Florida says repeatedly that unless Facebook takes steps to act, it will be the end of American privacy. Also mentions that we go to sleep every night holding our "handheld tablets."
Grassley says "the status quo no longer works,” Congress now needs to explore “if and how we need to strengthen privacy standards.”
I mean his speech probably said "contours." But he definitely said "condors."
Did Grassley just say "the condors of the Cambridge Analytica situation" because I would like to meet them.
Grassley: “Like their expanding user base, the data collected on Facebook users has also skyrocketed.”
The part of the Congressional hearing where the senator lectures the person giving testimony on things they already know is one of the less compelling parts of testimony. Feinstein now explaining the Cambridge Analytica story at some length, presumably to the C-SPAN audience who are just learning about this now.
Sen. Feinstein up next. Says Zuck has a chance to “demonstrate a meaningful commitment to privacy now.” Brings up Russian troll activity on Facebook.
Thune warns Zuckerberg that his "American dream" founder origin story could turn into a "privacy nightmare" for Americans.
Thune: “One reason that so many people are worried about this incident [Cambridge Analytica] is what it says about how Facebook works.”
Sen. Grassley gave an overview of what we’ll hear. Opening statements from lawmakers, then Zuckerberg statement, and then questions. Sen. Thune up first now.
All right, folks, here we go. The hearing has started.
Zuckerberg has just walked in.
Other folks are asking us, what will Sen. Nelson ask? Fortunately Bloomberg just somehow shot a sneaky pic of his plan.
Facebook's crew is already in place.
It appears the procedural vote is over. Senators are streaming in.
Lots of people are asking how Sarah Palin feels about today's big event. Fortunately she just weighed in.
Also seeing some Code Pink protestors.
Others have used the occasion for cosplay.
Here's a photo going around showing some sort of pad on Zuckerberg's chair. What does it mean? Sound off in the comments.
That's about three hours of questions, which is honestly so much talking.
44 senators are expected to get four minutes each to question Zuckerberg. Extra chairs were reportedly brought in to accommodate everyone.
Other people are killing time by telling jokes, which is fine by me.
And here's a thread from former Federal Trade Commission CTO Ashkan Soltani on Facebook's relentless efforts to expand the amount of data it collects about us over time.
While we wait, here's a good thread from former Senate staffer Alvaro Bedoya on which kinds of questions work in this setting — and which don't.
We're just hearing that due to a procedural vote in the Senate, today's hearing is likely to start closer to 2:30PM ET. The good news is that it gives us some extra time to reflect on what Facebook has done.
Welcome! If you're here to follow along as Mark Zuckerberg gets grilled on Capitol Hill, you're in the right place. He just posted a photo announcing his arrival:
While we wait to get started, here is how to check if your Facebook information was shared with Cambridge Analytica
You're a little early! The testimony is expected to start at 2:15PM ET on Tuesday, April 10th.
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