Mark Zuckerberg faced two days of questioning in Congress this week in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The Facebook chief revealed that his own data was compromised along with up to 87 million users of the social media platform.
Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan developed a Facebook app which featured a personality quiz called 鈥榯hisisyourdigitallife鈥� and聽Cambridge Analytica paid people to take it.
As well as the quiz results and the user鈥檚 Facebook account data, however, it also collected the data of their Facebook friends as well 鈥� which is strictly against Facebook鈥檚 rules.
Zuckerberg told politicians that there may be something 鈥渂ad鈥� going on at Cambridge University.
鈥淲hat we found now is that there鈥檚 a whole programme associated with Cambridge University where鈥� there were a number of other researchers building similar apps.
鈥淲e do need to understand whether there is something bad going on at Cambridge University overall that will require a stronger action from us.鈥�
This was in reference to the university鈥檚 psychometrics centre, which is reported to have worked with Cambridge Analytica on ways to predict human behaviour 鈥� a claim denied by Cambridge University.
The institution said it was 鈥渟urprised鈥� that Zuckerberg had only now become aware of its psychographics work. 鈥淥ur researchers have been publishing such research since 2013 in major peer-reviewed scientific journals, and these studies have been reported widely in international media.
鈥淭hese have included one study in 2015 led by Dr Aleksandr Spectre [Kogan] and co-authored by two Facebook employees.鈥�
So what did Twitter make of Zuck鈥檚 Washington performance – both serious and not?
There is a 100% chance Mark is a robot ??
鈥� Mike Tokes (@MikeTokes)
Almost feel bad for Zuckerberg. There鈥檚 no way he left that room full of old people without having to set up their wifi.
鈥� Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome)
WATCH ??
Mark explains the internet! ??
鈥� Larry Kim (@larrykim)
Here are the most confusing questions Congress asked Zuckerberg during this week’s hearing
鈥� CNNMoney (@CNNMoney)
Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony did little to mollify lawmakers, who called for new regulations that would limit Facebook鈥檚 ability to collect data on users without permission and to make privacy policies clear
鈥� The New York Times (@nytimes)
Congressional Republicans fell over themselves thanking Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook:
鈥� Slate (@Slate)
It鈥檚 satisfying to watch Zuckerberg be grilled by Congress for hours on end鈥�
But it鈥檚 not enough. We need real legislation that puts Facebook and companies like it in check.
鈥� Nate Lerner (@NathanLerner)
I don鈥檛 MISS it!
鈥� ????????Lady De’Plorable???????? (@LadyRedStorm)
MONTAGE: Zuckerberg鈥檚 Solution To Everything? 鈥楳ore AI Tools鈥�
鈥� The Daily Caller (@DailyCaller)
Mark Zuckerberg being swarmed by cameras is the perfect metaphor for online privacy today
鈥� The Verge (@verge)
What Zuck should say when people ask if Facebook listening to them:
– it’d eat all your phone battery
– it’s eat all your data allowance
– even when you think you’re unpredictable, you’re not鈥� Martin Bryant (@MartinSFP)