Zuckerberg hearing : Facebook CEO says firm is in 'arms race' with Russia and is working with Mueller election probe - as it happened

Data abuse scandal threatens to harm the social network forever

Mark Zuckerberg hearing: 'It was my mistake. And I'm sorry.'

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced more than five hours of questions from the joint Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees over the privacy and the use of citizen's data..

The long-awaited showdown – one of the first times that Mr Zuckerberg has spoken publicly since a data scandal hit – saw nearly half the US Senate, 44 legislators, interrogate Mr about an issue that threatens to permanently damage the site he co-founded.

Mr Zuckerberg agreed to testify in Congress after revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm affiliated with Donald Trump's presidential campaign, was sold access to personal information from 87 million Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica denies any laws were broken

In his testimony, Mr Zuckerberg disclosed that his company is “working with” special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign — and working hard to change its own policies.

“We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake," he said. "It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here.”

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Mr Zuckerberg apologised for his company's errors in failing to better protect the personal information of its millions of users, a controversy that has brought a flood of bad publicity and sent the company's stock value plunging. However, as he answered questions, Facebook shares surged and closed up 4.5 per cent for the day, the biggest gain in two years.

Mr Zuckerberg said it had been “clearly a mistake” to believe the data-mining company Cambridge Analytica had deleted user data that it had - although Analytica said on Tuesday that it had deleted all the data. Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook had considered the data collection “a closed case” because it thought the information had been discarded and therefor that is why it did not inform users when it became aware of the data use in 2015.

The Facebook founder said the company is going through “a broader philosophical shift in how we approach our responsibility.” He said the company needs to take a “more proactive role” that includes ensuring the tools it creates are used in “good and healthy” ways.

He denied that Facebook, which has more than two billion monthly users across the world, was a monopoly. “It certainly doesn't feel that way to me,” Mr Zuckerberg said.

The billionaire appeared mostly comfortable with the questioning, with some senators struggling with some aspects of the technology. Although Mr Zuckerberg was at points to point out repeatedly that Facebook "does not sell" advertising and that users "have full control" over the data they provide.

Asked about the prospect of regulation, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mr Zuckerberg said that his company would back "the right regulation".

Mr Graham asked whether the company "would work" with Congress to craft that regulation, to which Mr Zuckerberg replied: “Absolutely.”

Agencies contributed to this report

Key Points

• Zuckerberg says that some Facebook employees have been interviewed by Robert Mueller's team
• Technology billionaire calls it a 'mistake' not to ban Cambridge Analytics from Facebook in 2015
• Facebook is facing an 'ongoing arms race' with Russian interference, according to Zuckerberg
• CEO says he is willing to work with Congress to help create regulation for his industry

[10 April 2018 19:40 · Steve Anderson]

Mr Thune says that Facebook represents the 'American Dream' but that it must not turn into a privacy nightmare.

[10 April 2018 19:41 · Steve Anderson]

Now we have Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

[10 April 2018 19:43 · Steve Anderson]

She has said that data was collected without user consent.

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[10 April 2018 19:46 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Senator John Thune reminded Congress that 87 million people were caught up in the data scandal. Facebook began rolling out alerts to all 2.2 billion of its users on Monday, though many users are yet to receive them. 

A Facebook spokesperson told The Independent that the roll out would be "gradual" but that users could find out if they were affected by visiting the social network's help centre.

Here's an article explaining how to check if you're one of the 87 million. 

[10 April 2018 19:48 · Steve Anderson]

Facebook shares were up as the hearing started.

[10 April 2018 19:51 · Steve Anderson]

Mr Grassley says in his statement says that the "status quo no longer works" and that tech companies need to respond to modern environments and make the ability to change privacy changes transparent and easy.

[10 April 2018 19:51 · anthony.cuthbertson]

This is what Mark Zuckerberg faced when he first arrived:

[10 April 2018 19:53 · Steve Anderson]

"If you don't get your act in order..none of us will have any privacy any more" Senator Bill Nelson to Mark Zuckerberg.

[10 April 2018 19:53 · anthony.cuthbertson]

And this is how he faced them:

[10 April 2018 19:55 · Steve Anderson]

Now, Mr Zuckerberg is speaking: "Facebook is an idealistic and optimistic company"