Facebook CEO refuses to face-off with British parliamentarians
London, May 16: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has no plans as of now to face members of a British parliamentary committee probing the misuse of the firm's data its practice of collecting user information, the media reported.
In a letter to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Rebecca Stimson, Facebook's Head of Public Policy in the UK, said that "Zuckerberg has no plans to meet with the committee or travel to the UK at the present time", theregister.co.uk reported on Tuesday.
The committee had expressed dissatisfaction with Facebook's response to various points it raised including on Cambridge Analytica, dark ads, Facebook Connect, the amount spent by Russia on UK ads on the platform, data collection across the web and budgets for investigations.
Stimson's letter, however, did not dampen the desire of the committee to hear from Zuckerberg directly.
"Although Facebook says Zuckerberg has no plans to travel to the UK, we would also be open to taking his evidence by video link, if that would be the only way to do this during the period of our inquiry," said Chair of the Committee Damian Collins in response to Stimson's letter.
"For too long these companies have gone unchallenged in their business practices, and only under public pressure from this Committee and others have they begun to fully cooperate with our requests," Collins added.
The committee issued Facebook 39 questions it said the firm's Chief technology Officer Mike Schroepfer had failed to answer in his evidence to the parliamentarians.
The committee said Facebook's latest responses to these questions do not fully answer each point with sufficient detail or data evidence.
The committee said it plans to write again to address significant gaps in Facebook's answers in the coming days.
"It is disappointing that a company with the resources of Facebook chooses not to provide a sufficient level of detail and transparency on various points including on Cambridge Analytica, dark ads, Facebook Connect, the amount spent by Russia on UK ads on the platform, data collection across the web, budgets for investigations, and that shows general discrepancies between Schroepfer and Zuckerberg's respective testimonies," Collins said.
"Given that these were follow up questions to questions Schroepfer previously failed to answer, we expected both detail and data, and in a number of cases got excuses," Collins added.
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India distances itself from Gaurav Arya’s remarks against Iranian Foreign Minister
New Delhi: India on Saturday distanced itself from remarks made by former army officer and television personality Gaurav Arya against Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, after the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi objected to Arya's comments.
Arya, in a video shared online, criticised Araghchi for choosing to visit Pakistan before coming to India amid heightened tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives. His remarks sparked a diplomatic reaction from Iran, with its embassy in India responding strongly.
“Respect for guests has a long-standing tradition in Iranian culture,” the Iranian Embassy stated on X (formerly Twitter), while sharing the video. “We Iranians consider our guests to be beloved by God. How about you?”
Following the diplomatic protest, the Indian Embassy in Tehran issued a clarification stating that Arya is a private individual and his views do not reflect the official stance of the Indian government.
“The individual in the video is a private Indian citizen. His statements have no connection with the official position of India,” the embassy stated. “The Government of India considers the disrespectful tone used in the video to be inappropriate.”
The Iranian foreign minister had paid an unscheduled visit to Pakistan on May 5 to hold talks with its top leadership amid increasing tensions with India. He later returned to Tehran before heading to New Delhi to co-chair a bilateral Joint Commission meeting, his first visit to India since becoming Iran’s foreign minister in August 2024.
Last month, Araghchi had also offered to mediate between India and Pakistan to “forge greater understanding” following a series of cross-border incidents.
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