Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized to civil rights groups in Myanmar for failing to prevent hate speech from spreading on its platform, and for wrongly stating that Facebook had detected and stopped the messages inciting ethnic violence in the country, according to an email obtained by The New York Times.
The details: Zuckerberg said he misspoke, and outlined steps to help curb violence in the country. However, his response only came after activists from Myanmar criticized Facebook for not doing enough, and human rights experts at the U.N. issued a report stating the platform played a significant role in spreading hate speech in the country.
Sens. Mark Warner and Amy Klobuchar sent letters Monday to the CEOs of Google parent Alphabet and Twitter urging them to follow Facebook in endorsing their bill to increase disclosure requirements for online political ads.
Why it matters: Beyond Facebook's privacy firestorm, Google and Twitter are getting pulled into other debates surrounding how social media platforms are used during elections. Facebook endorsed the Honest Ads Act last week in a move that armed CEO Mark Zuckerberg with ammunition for his hearing appearances this week and put pressure on its rivals to follow suit.
Here's Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's full testimony for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Zuckerberg is spending part of Monday meeting with lawmakers, creating a media circus as he and his team arrived at the Capitol complex.
"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."
SenseTime, a Beijing-based developer of facial recognition technologies, has raised $600 million in new funding at a valuation reported to be north of $4.5 billion.
Why it matters: Because that's the highest valuation ever for a privately-held AI company, but it also comes with more than a few privacy concerns.
On Wednesday, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will make his first trip to Washington since taking over for Travis Kalanick in August. The former Expedia CEO will join D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser at Uber's new Greenlight Hub, a driver resource center in Northeast D.C. (East River Park Shopping Center), at 10:30 a.m.
The big picture: Khosrowshahi will be in the District on the same day — though in much friendlier confines — as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who will be in the midst of his second day testifying before Congress.
Facebook said Monday it will provide some of its data to elections researchers selected by a new panel of experts.
The bigger picture: There have been calls for Facebook to let academics peer into the workings of its opaque platform. The announcement comes a day before CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony to Congress.
Uber has agreed to acquire Jump Bikes, an electric dockless bike-sharing company with which it partnered earlier this year.
Why it matters: Uber has well-known aspirations to go beyond cars, and bike-sharing has gained traction as a "last-mile" transportation option in dense cities.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is shutting down his Facebook account, reports USA Today. In an interview, Wozniak said he'd rather pay for Facebook than have the company make money selling his data.
Why it matters: Apple CEO Tim Cook said something similar last month, telling Recode in an interview that his company makes money off selling products to consumers, rather than selling user data.
Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge says inconsistent privacy protections undermine consumer confidence online — and that’s bad for business. So he’s calling on Congress to pass strong online privacy rules that apply to all online players.
Why it matters: Rutledge is the first CEO of a major internet service provider to endorse an “opt-in” online privacy law that would apply to web platforms like Facebook as well as ISPs like Charter, which is the second-largest broadband provider in the country. Expect Zuckerberg to be asked about this idea tomorrow.
Lawmakers will get the chance to grill Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week about the company’s data practices, its role in elections, and whatever else is on their mind.
The big picture: Members of the three committees questioning Zuckerberg will all recognize that it’s the rare chance to take their Facebook criticisms straight to its founder and get the media attention that comes along with that.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to meet with some lawmakers Monday, his latest maneuver to prepare for hearings in front of three congressional committees this week, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Last week Zuckerberg and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg worked the media, doing roughly a dozen interviews collectively. As Zuckerberg heads into trial mode this week, he’s expected to keep a low media profile and instead focus his efforts chiefly on Capitol Hill.
Facebook will send out notifications on Monday to users that were identified as having their data possibly implicated in the Cambridge Analytica scandal or if a user's data was misused by companies that acquired it.
Why it matters: Facebook says the data of 87 million people may have been impacted in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and is auditing multiple apps that had potentially misused data collected through the site.
