5 countries now ask Mark Zuckerberg to testify about the misuse of Facebook's data

A unprecedented "major international committee" Argentina, Australia and Ireland have expanded the number of members of British and Canadian parliaments investigating misinformation and online election campaigns, according to a letter sent by the United States. elected leaders at Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

British and Canadian authorities invited the social media baron last week to attend their first joint hearing on November 27, but declined the invitation. In his November 2 letter refusing the invitation, Facebook reported that Zuckerberg had appeared before Congress and the European Union Parliament last year.

"It's not possible for Mr. Zuckerberg to be available to all parliaments," Facebook officials wrote in a letter to British and Canadian MPs.

But the newly strengthened committee from five countries is stepping up the pressure.

"We were very disappointed with this disdainful response … Five parliaments are now asking you to do what is right to do with the 170 million users of the countries they represent," he said. they write.

The invitation comes in the wake of the publication by the UK's information commissioner of information about her office's investigation into the use of Facebook's data by political organizations in the context of the "Brexit" campaign. Elizabeth Denham told the House of Commons Committee on Culture, Media and Sport that the use of targeting techniques to sell products for political purposes posed a threat to democracy.

"I do not think we wanted to use the same model used to sell us vacations, shoes and cars to interact with people and voters," Denham said.

In his report to the head of the Office of the Information Commissioner (ICO), Denham wrote that "Facebook … has failed to protect personal information because it has not managed to make appropriate controls on applications and developers using its platform. "

His conclusion reflects that of a scathing preliminary report on "Misinformation and False News" written by the British committee in July. He called for increased scrutiny of social media companies and election campaigns, while highlighting the use of "destroyed" Facebook data by businesses associated with the successful Brexit campaigns and the President's 2016 campaign. Donald Trump.

In a statement regarding Denham's report to CBS News, a Facebook spokesman called Denham to hand him evidence relating to Cambridge Analytica, a company now gone, made famous by the deployment of poorly harvested data for help Republican campaigns in the United States. Cambridge Analytica data was accessed by Russian IP addresses during its work for various US and British campaigns.

"While we respectfully disagree with some of the findings of the ICO, we have already indicated that we should have done more to investigate the allegations concerning Cambridge Analytica and take action in 2015. We are grateful to the OIC has acknowledged our full cooperation throughout its investigation and has also confirmed that it has found no evidence to suggest that UK Facebook user data had in fact been shared with Cambridge Analytic. ", said the Facebook spokesman. "Now that their investigation is over, we hope the OIC will now give us access to the AC servers so they can audit the data they've received."

The Canadian and British committees plan to release their final reports in December. Facebook has not yet responded to the updated invitation.