Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before US congress in Washington

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee next week. The committee said it will be examining the misuse of data by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica during the US 2016 election.

The social media giant has come under fire after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had been harvesting the data of over 50m users for years, and used the information to influence voters by creating and sharing divisive content online.

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The panel’s Republican chairman Greg Walden and top Democrat Frank Pallone said: “This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online.”

Separately, the social media giant announced it was planning on revising the written policy users agree to when they sign up to Facebook, adding language about the protection of personal data in order to comply with strict EU privacy laws.

Read more: Facebook unveils privacy changes in bid to become more transparent

Facebook said it would be publishing draft versions of two documents that would apply to users worldwide both its terms of service and its data policy. The social network said it would be seeking feedback before making the terms of agreement final.