Facebook CEO refuses to testify before UK Parliamentary committee

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, ‘has no plans to meet with the committee or travel to the UK at the present time’, said Rebecca Stimson, Facebook UK’s head of public policy, despite UK committee’s demand for Zuckerberg to ‘testify this month, or face summons’. The letter Stimson sent came three days after the deadline that Facebook was initially given to respond. The letter also contains additional answers to 39 points that Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technical officer, previously answered in front of the Committee, but ‘were unsatisfactory’ to the Committee. Chair of the Committee Damian Collins MP stated: ‘If Mark Zuckerberg truly recognises the ‘seriousness’ of these issues as they say they do, we would expect that he would want to appear in front of the Committee and answer questions that are of concern not only to Parliament, but Facebook’s tens of millions of users in this country. Although Facebook says Mr Zuckerberg has no plans to travel to the UK, we would also be open to taking his evidence by video link, if that would be the only way to do this during the period of our inquiry.’ While declining the invitation to meet with the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Zuckerberg previously met with the US Congress and plans to meet with EU lawmakers.