Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg just released prepared statements for his upcoming testimony before U.S. lawmakers, issuing an apology and taking responsibility for its indiscretions.
The notoriously press shy Zuckerberg is under intense pressure to explain how Facebook allowed the personal information of millions of its users to be used by a data analysis firm that worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Lawmakers will be looking to the co-founder of the social network, which reaches some 2 billion people around the world, to explain himself.
“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” he wrote. “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”
Zuckerberg wrote that he now realizes that the company stated goal of connecting people had been short sighted.
“It’s not enough to just connect people, we have to make sure those connections are positive,” Zuckerberg wrote in his statement. “It’s not enough to just give people a voice, we have to make sure people aren’t using it to hurt people or spread misinformation.”
The statements focus on two main issues: Cambridge Analytica and Russian election interference.
On both areas, Zuckerberg laid out what the company knows and what it’s doing about these issues.
He also reiterated the company’s commitment to users over the advertisers that have helped make Facebook into one of the world’s most valuable companies.
“My top priority has always been our social mission of connecting people, building community and bringing the world closer together,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Advertisers and developers will never take priority over that as long as I’m running Facebook.”
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