First up, Fortune:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg managed to dodge tough questioning by European Union parliamentary members on Tuesday during a hearing about the company’s data collection practices.
The parliamentary members asked thorough, multi-part questions about Facebook’s policies and global operations. But because their questions were grouped together at the beginning of the roughly hour-and-a-half long session, Zuckerberg was able to mostly ignore them when it was finally his turn to speak.
Instead, he reiterated the company’s recent talking points around its efforts to clean up its service like hiring more monitors and combating fake news.Sounds like he aced it. Right, Quartz?
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with members of the European Parliament today (May 22) in what was billed as a “meeting” but ended up being more of an awkward hearing, in which the executive took a public lashing but was also let off the hook from many tough, detailed questions.
In one particularly uncomfortable moment for Zuckerberg, Nigel Farage, the well-known euro-skeptic and far-right leader, said that without social media, Trump and Brexit wouldn’t have happened, since these causes were able to circumvent traditional media to get their message to the public. “Perhaps you’re horrified by this creation of yours and what it’s led to,” he said to the 34-year-old, who looked a bit flabbergasted.
For the better part of the meeting, which was scheduled to last a little over an hour, the politicians lobbed their questions and reflections on technology at Zuckerberg, who, at the end, repeated talking points he’s given to US lawmakers, journalists, and investors over the past several months.OK... maybe not?
It's important to note that the basic facts being reported here are the same:
- Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the EU parliament, where he
- faced a few tough questions that he'd dodged during his appearance before the U.S. Congress, before
- returning to Facebook's well-worn, largely meaningless talking points.
The same applies to The Sun's coverage:
Zuckerberg had started off the meeting with the same type of apologetic statement he made to the US Congress.
"We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a mistake. I’m sorry,” said the billionaire entrepreneur.
But his apology fell on deaf ears.
“You’re not in a congressional hearing but in the European Union,” snapped Claude Moraes, a British MEP.
He added that regulation is much stronger in the EU than in the US – which seemed to be the theme of the session in light of the upcoming privacy rules the EU is set to enforce on May 25.The effectiveness of Zuckerberg's appearance before the EU in tamping down the flames of controversy is something that will probably take some time to manifest itself. EU regulators and lawmakers have less reason to be friendly towards U.S.-based Facebook then do the members of the U.S. Congress, most of whom have received campaign funding from FB directly, or from FB-affiliated groups. That said, I think it's probably safe to say that consumers and consumer-advocate groups will need to keep the pressure on their own elected officials if they, and we, want to see actual change happen.
UPDATED May 23rd, 06:30 MST:
Well, it's been a few more hours, and people have had a little more time to think about Zuck's EU appearance, and today's reviews are not as rosy as yesterday's.
CNN:
Mark Zuckerberg failed to address European concerns about Facebook
9to5Google:
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg failed to answer 40+ questions in yesterday’s hearingCNBC:
European lawmakers criticize Zuckerberg for his lack of answersMaybe Zuckerberg's schtick wasn't such a hit, after all.