Washington — Facebook chief Zuckerberg accepted personal responsibility on Tuesday for the leak of data on tens of millions of its users, while warning of an "arms race" against Russian disinformation during a high-stakes hearing with US legislators. In his first formal congressional appearance, the Facebook founder and CEO answered questions for nearly five hours as he sought to quell the storm over privacy and security lapses at the social media giant that have angered legislators and the network’s 2-billion users. Under mounting pressure over the hijacking of its user data by a British political consultant, Zuckerberg reiterated his apology for the historic breach, before being grilled over how Facebook collects and protects people’s personal information. "It was my mistake, and I’m sorry," Zuckerberg said about the improper sharing of 87-million people’s information by Cambridge Analytica, a firm working for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. "I started Facebook...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.