WELCOME TO THE COMMITTEE, AND WHATEVER YOUR STATEMENT IS
ORALLY, IF YOU HAVE A LONGER ONE, IT WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE
RECORD.
RECORD.
SO PROCEED, SIR.
>> CHAIRMAN GRASSLEY, CHAIRMAN
THUNE, RANKING MEMBER FEINSTEIN AND RANKING MEMBER NELSON ANDIN
AND RANKING MEMBER NELSON AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE, WE
FACE A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT
ISSUES AROUND PRIVACY, SAFETY
AND DEMOCRACY.
AND YOU WILL RIGHTFULLY HAVE SOME HARD QUESTIONS FOR ME TO
ANSWER.
ANSWER.
BEFORE I TALK ABOUT THE STEPS WERE TAKING TO ADDRESS THEM, I
WANT TO TALK ABOUT HOW WE GOT
HERE.
HERE.
FACEBOOK IS AN IDEALISTIC AND OPTIMISTIC COMPANY.LISTIC AND
OPTIMISTIC COMPANY. FOR MOST OF OUR EXISTENCE, WE
FOCUSED ON ALL OF THE GOOD THAT
CONNECTING PEOPLE CAN DO.
AND AS FACEBOOK HAS GROWN,
PEOPLE EVERYWHERE HAVE GOTTEN A
POWERFUL NEW TOOL FOR STAYING
CONNECTED TO THE PEOPLE THEY LOVE, FOR MAKING THEIR VOICES
HEARD AND FOR BUILDING
COMMUNITIES AND BUSINESSES. JUST RECENTLY, WEVE SEEN THE
#METOO MOVEMENT AND THE MARCH
FOR OUR LIVES ORGANIZED AT LEAST
IN PART ON FACEBOOK.
AFTER HURRICANE HARVEY, PEOPLE
CAME TOGETHER TO RAISE MORE THAN
$20 MILLION FOR RELIEF. AND MORE THAN 70 MILLION SMALL
BUSINESSES USED FACEBOOK TO
CREATE JOBS AND GROW.
BUT ITS CLEAR NOW WE DIDNT DO
ENOUGH TO PREVENT THESE TOOLS
FROM BEING USED FOR HARM AS
WELL.
WELL.
THAT GOES FOR FAKE NEWS, FOR FOREIGN INTERFERENCE IN, FOR
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS AND HATE SPEECH AS
WELL AS DEVELOPERS AND DATA
PRIVACY.
PRIVACY.
WE DIDNT TAKE A BROAD ENOUGH VIEW OF OUR RESPONSIBILITY AND
THAT WAS A BIG MISTAKE.
AND IT WAS MY MISTAKE.
AND IM SORRY.
I STARTED FACEBOOK, I RUN IT,
AND IM RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT
HAPPENS HERE.
SO NOW WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH ALL OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE
AND MAKE SURE WERE TAKING A
BROAD ENOUGH VIEW OF OUR
RESPONSIBILITY.
RESPONSIBILITY.
ITS NOT ENOUGH TO JUST CONNECT PEOPLE. ENOUGH TO JUST CONNECT
PEOPLE.
WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THOSE
CONNECTIONS ARE POSITIVE.
ITS NOT ENOUGH TO JUST GIVE PEOPLE A VOICE, WE HAVE TO MAKE
SURE PEOPLE ARENT USING IT TO
HARM OTHER PEOPLE OR TO SPREAD
MISINFORMATION.
MISINFORMATION.
ITS NOT ENOUGH JUST TO GIVE PEOPLE CONTROL OVER THEIRVE
PEOPLE CONTROL OVER THEIR INFORMATION.
INFORMATION.
WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THE
DEVELOPERS THEY SHARE IT WITH PROTECT THEIR INFORMATION, TOO.
ACROSS THE BOARD WE HAVE A
RESPONSIBILITY TO NOT JUST BUILD
TOOLS BUT TO MAKE SURE THEYRE
USED FOR GOOD.
IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO WORK
THROUGH ALL THE CHANGES WE NEED
TO MAKE ACROSS THE COMPANY, BUT
IM COMMITTED TO GETTING THIS
RIGHT.
RIGHT.
THIS INCLUDES THE BASIC
RESPONSIBILITY OF PROTECTING
PEOPLES INFORMATION WHICH WE
FAILED TO DO WITH CAMBRIDGE
ANALYTICA.
SO HERE ARE A FEW THINGS THAT WE
ARE DOING TO ADDRESS THIS AND TO
PREVENT IT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN. FIRST, WERE GETTING TO THEAGAIN.
FIRST, WERE GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF EXACTLY WHAT CAMBRIDGE
ANALYTICA DID AND TELLING
EVERYONE AFFECTED.
EVERYONE AFFECTED. WHAT WE KNOW NOW IS THAT
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA IMPROPERLY
ACCESSED SOME INFORMATION ABOUT
MILLIONS OF FACEBOOK MEMBERS BY
BUYING IT FROM AN APP DEVELOPER.
THAT INFORMATION -- THIS WAS
INFORMATION THAT PEOPLE
GENERALLY SHARE PUBLICLY ON
THEIR FACEBOOK PAGES, LIKE NAMES
AND THEIR PROFILE PICTURE AND
THE PAGES THEY FOLLOW.
WHEN WE FIRST CONTACTED
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA, THEY TOLD
US THEY HAD DELETED THE DATA.
ABOUT A MONTH AGO, WE HEARD NEW
REPORTS THAT SUGGESTED THAT
WASNT TRUE.
WASNT TRUE. NOW WERE WORKING WITH
GOVERNMENTS IN THE U.S., THE
U.K. AND AROUND THE WORLD TO DO
A FULL AUDIT OF WHAT THEYVE
DONE AND TO MAKE SURE THEY GET
RID OF ANY DATA THEY MAY STILL
HAVE.
HAVE.
SECOND, TO MAKE SURE NO OTHER APP DEVELOPERS OUT THERE ARER
APP DEVELOPERS OUT THERE ARE MISUSING DATA, WERE NOW
INVESTIGATING EVERY SINGLE ACT
THAT HAD ACCESS TO A LARGE
AMOUNT OF INFORMATION IN THE
PAST.
PAST.
IF WE FIND THAT SOMEONE
IMPROPERLY USED DATA, WERE GOING TO BAN THEM FROM FACEBOOK
AND TELL EVERYONE AFFECTED.
THIRD, TO PREVENT THIS FROM EVER
HAPPENING AGAIN GOING FORWARD,
WERE MAKING SURE THAT
DEVELOPERS CANT ACCESS AS MUCH
INFORMATION NOW.
INFORMATION NOW. THE GOOD NEWS HERE IS WE ALREADY
MADE BIG CHANGES TO OUR PLATFORM
IN 2014 THAT WOULD HAVE KEPT
THIS SITUATION WITH CAMBRIDGE
ANALYTICA FROM OCCURRING TODAY.
BUT THERE IS MORE TO DO, AND YOU
CAN FIND MORE DETAILS ON THE
STEPS IM TAKING IN MY WRITTEN
STATEMENT.
STATEMENT.
MY TOP PRIORITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN
OUR SOCIAL MISSION OF CONNECTING
PEOPLE, BUILDING COMMUNITY AND
BRINGING THE WORLD CLOSER
TOGETHER.
ADVERTISERS AND DEVELOPERS WILL NEVER TAKE PRIORITY OVER THAT AS
LONG AS I AM RUNNING FACEBOOK.
I STARTED FACEBOOK WHEN I WAS IN
COLLEGE.
COLLEGE.
WEVE COME A LONG WAY SINCE THEN.COME A LONG WAY SINCE
THEN.
WE NOW SERVE MORE THAN 2 BILLION
PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD, AND EVERY DAY PEOPLE USE OUR AND
EVERY DAY PEOPLE USE OUR SERVICES TO STAY CONNECTED WITH
THE PEOPLE THAT MATTER TO THEM
MOST.
MOST.
I BELIEVE DEEPLY IN WHAT WERE
DOING, AND I KNOW THAT WHEN WE ADDRESS THESE CHALLENGES, WELL
LOOK BACK AND VIEW HELPING
PEOPLE CONNECT AND GIVING MORE
PEOPLE A VOICE AS A POSITIVE
FORCE IN THE WORLD.
I REALIZE THE ISSUES WERE
TALKING ABOUT TODAY ARENT JUST
ISSUES FOR FACEBOOK IN OUR
COMMUNITY, THEYRE ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES FOR ALL OF US AS