Mark Zuckerberg—Zuckerberg testified before Congress accepting personal responsibility for Cambridge Analytica data breach affecting 87 million users
On April 10-11, 2018, Mark Zuckerberg testified before the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, facing questions from nearly 100 lawmakers about Facebook's role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He stated 'It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here.' This was a rare instance of a tech CEO accepting personal accountability before Congress.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Transparency | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| User Privacy | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.574 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.68)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (2 signals)
Zuckerberg testified before Senate: 'It was my mistake, and I'm sorry'
On April 10, 2018, Zuckerberg appeared before the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees, stating: 'It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here.' He faced questions from nearly 100 lawmakers over two days.
Official Senate Judiciary Committee record of Zuckerberg's testimony on Cambridge Analytica
The Senate Judiciary Committee published the official transcript and prepared testimony from Zuckerberg's April 10, 2018 hearing, documenting his acceptance of responsibility for Facebook's data practices.