Mark Zuckerberg may have tried his best to keep European lawmakers from grilling him publicly, but the EU is not having it. Instead of a private hearing, the European members of parliament are going to ask the Facebook CEO some expectedly tough questions in a session that will be livestreamed today. This is Zuckerberg’s third appearance in front of lawmakers after he faced a two-day long marathon of questioning back home in Washington.
Earlier it was reported that Facebook had agreed to a hearing if the event was kept private. However, this move only attracted more criticism since lawmakers were angry why the Facebook chief was trying to hold the meeting behind closed doors.
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Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament, tweeted on Monday that Zuckerberg’s appearance would be publicly livestreamed. “I have personally discussed with Facebook CEO Mr Zuckerberg the possibility of webstreaming meeting with him,” Tajani tweeted. “I am glad to announce that he has accepted this new request. Great news for EU citizens. I thank him for the respect shown towards EP.”
How to watch Facebook livestream to see Europeans hopefully ask better questions than their US peers
If you aren’t tired of watching Facebook hearings and seeing Zuckerberg manoeuvring through tricky questions with the highly meme-fied “we’ll get back to you on this,” here’s how to watch Facebook being grilled by European lawmakers live:
- Livestream link (European Parliament TV channel)
- Starts at 18:20 local – 12:20 Eastern – 9:20 Pacific
Zuckerberg’s testimony in Washington was seen as a success for the social media giant as the company’s share prices soared as a result. While many believe that European lawmakers will hopefully know better to ask the right questions and not divert from the topic, it is likely that Zuckerberg will continue to sidestep criticism and bring focus on the company’s change in policies.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect this Friday across the EU. Facebook CEO will be asked questions around GDPR compliance, data storage, user privacy, the company’s growing influence in the social media (and publishing) space, and its responsibilities/influence during elections.
