Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced a lot of angry lawmakers Tuesday during a joint Senate committee hearing on his company's failure to protect users' privacy. They wanted to know how Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, managed to improperly collect millions of users' data, and why Facebook failed to notify them about the breach of trust.
When it was Sen. John Kennedy's (R-LA) turn to question Zuckerberg, he put his argument in layman's terms.
"Here's what everybody has been trying to tell you today and I say this gently: Your user agreement sucks.The purpose of that user agreement is to cover Facebook's rear end. It's not to inform your users about their rights," @SenJohnKennedy blasts Mark Zuckerberg. pic.twitter.com/PJntv00rnP
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 10, 2018
"I would imagine probably most people do not read the whole thing," Zuckerberg admitted. "But everyone has the opportunity to and consents to it."
"Go back home and rewrite it" so the average person can understand it, Kennedy suggested.
Zuckerberg has a higher IQ than him, Kennedy reasoned. If he can figure it out, surely the young tech genius who founded Facebook can.
Other senators, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), wanted to know about Facebook's targeting of conservative users and whether the company had also targeted liberals. He did not receive an answer.
Throughout the interrogation, Zuckerberg defended Facebook's integrity. They are still an idealistic, optimistic entity, he said.
Zuckerberg faces the House Energy and Commerce Committees during his second day of hearings Wednesday.