The US House Energy and Commerce Committee has released a prepared statement from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ahead of his testimony which is to take place on wednesday before Congress.
According to the statements, Zuckerberg talks about the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and as well as Russia's interference in US election.
Zuckerberg acknowledged in the seven-page document that Facebook didn't do enough to prevent the misuse of the social network's tools and then went on to accept responsibility for what happened. "It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here."
The Facebook CEO said that Facebook was an idealistic company whose initial aim was to simply connect people. He then said that while the platform has been a powerful tool made for good, there have also been failings.
"It's clear now that we didn't do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well. That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers an data privacy. We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here," Zuckerberg said in the statement.
The Facebook boss went on explain the improvements that the social media platform had introduced in the past and also the ones that they plan to bring in as a way of improvement. The Facebook boss also acknowledged that congress will "rightfully" have some hard questions for him to answer and assured that he's ready to answer them all.