Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed Tuesday, in his testimony before the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees, that Facebook employees have been questioned by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“Have you or anyone at Facebook been interviewed by the special counsel’s office?” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked Zuckerberg.
“Yes,” he replied, adding that he himself had not been interviewed.
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook is working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office and employees have been interviewed as part of the Russia probe pic.twitter.com/eTovzNbK7C
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) April 10, 2018
“I want to be careful here because our work with the special counsel is confidential and I want to be sure that in an open session I’m not revealing something that’s confidential,” Zuckerberg emphasized.
"I actually am not aware of a subpoena,” he said, “I believe that there may be but I know we’re working with them."
Zuckerberg appeared before the Senate to testify about his company’s handling of the Cambridge Analytica data sharing scandal. Facebook has also been facing scrutiny over the way Russian-based groups used the platform to try and influence the 2016 election.
Facebook admitted last September that the Russian Internet Research Agency had bought $100,000 in political ads ahead of the election. In February, Mueller charged 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies, including the Internet Research Agency, with conspiracy to tamper with the 2016 election.
Zuckerberg will appear Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.