Facebook chief faces EU grilling over his 'digital monster'

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced tough questions from European Union lawmakers Tuesday over what one of them branded Zuckerberg's "digital monster," and he apologized for the way the social network has been used to produce fake news, interfere in elections and sweep up people's personal data.

FILE - In this April 10, 2018 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears on a television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as he testifies in the Senate in Washington. Shares in the social media giant are trading around $185 early Friday, May 11, returning to the levels last seen eight weeks ago, when news broke that the company failed to prevent major privacy breaches during the run-up to the 2016 presidential election in the U.S. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

At a hearing in the European Parliament in Brussels, legislators sought explanations about the growing number of false Facebook accounts and whether Facebook will comply with new EU privacy rules, but many were left frustrated by Zuckerberg's lack of answers.

After short opening remarks, Zuckerberg listened to all the questions first, and then responded to them all at once. There was no back-and-forth with lawmakers, as happened during his testimony in front of the U.S. Congress last month.

FILE- In this March 29, 2018, file photo the logo for Facebook appears on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square. Many companies large and small are updating their privacy policies and service terms to comply with upcoming European Union rules governing data and privacy. In preparation for GDPR, Facebook in March updated its privacy controls in hopes of making them easier to find and understand. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

As a result, he was able to avoid giving some answers and ran out of time to provide others.

His appearance came at a difficult time for Facebook. In March it was alleged that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica used the data of millions of Facebook users to target voters during political campaigns, including the one that brought Donald Trump to the presidency.

Whether it was "fake news, foreign interference in elections and developers misusing people's information," Zuckerberg said, "we didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibilities."

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, right, welcomes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg upon his arrival at the EU Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, May 22, 2018. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces senior European Union lawmakers today to answer questions about a scandal over the alleged misuse of the data of millions of Facebook users. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

"That was a mistake, and I'm sorry for it," he added during the hearing, which ran just over an hour and a half.

But liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt said Zuckerberg has done enough apologizing for his company's mistakes. He said the real question is: "Are you capable to fix it?"

Verhofstadt asked whether Zuckerberg wanted to be remembered like computer legends Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, "who have enriched our world and our societies," or as "a genius who created a digital monster that is destroying our democracies and our societies."

Socialist leader Udo Bullmann demanded an explanation for how the number of false Facebook accounts can be on the rise and what is being done to stop them being used to manipulate elections.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, background, walks with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg upon his arrival at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Tuesday, May 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

"We are at the crossroads, and in a critical situation, because your business practices touch upon two basic values of our societies," Bullmann said. "First of all, the personal data which became perhaps the most important asset in modern media society. And secondly, on the right of self-government of sovereign nations."

Zuckerberg said Facebook is strengthening cooperation with national election authorities and trying to introduce more transparency about who is running political advertising.

"This is one of our top priorities as a company," he told the lawmakers. He said the goal is to build more artificial-intelligence tools to identify fake accounts and to take them down.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, right, welcomes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg upon his arrival at the EU Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, May 22, 2018. European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, right, welcomes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg upon his arrival at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Tuesday, May 22, 2018.  (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Facebook came away largely unscathed from Zuckerberg's testimony in front of Congress in April. The company's stock even rose after his appearance. Several U.S. lawmakers often seemed to fail to grasp the technical details of Facebook's operations.

European politicians in general have been tougher on Silicon Valley and have attached more importance to online privacy.

Zuckerberg's testimony in Brussels came just before a stringent new EU law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, takes effect.

The law, which goes into force on Friday, is tougher than U.S. legislation and will give Facebook's estimated 252 million European users more control over what companies can do with what they post, search and click on, regardless of what country those companies operate in. Companies could be fined up to 4 percent of their worldwide annual revenue for violations.

Asked whether Facebook is ready to respect the rules, Zuckerberg said: "We do expect to be fully compliant" on Friday.

The evening hearing was initially meant to be held behind closed doors but was broadcast live after many in the assembly demanded an open session.

As time ran out, Zuckerberg agreed to provide written answers to questions he had not responded to during the hearing.

Lamenting the way the hearing was organized and the lack of solid answers, Conservative leader Sayed Kamall said, "Unfortunately the format was a get-out-of-jail-free card."

"We still don't know the depths that people's data has been abused," he said. "Until we genuinely know what has happened, and is still happening, Facebook and legislators can't put in place the right solutions to prevent the same issues in the future."

Zuckerberg is due to hold talks in Paris on Wednesday with French President Emmanuel Macron.

NEW YORK (AP) — Even as many Americans say they learn about the 2024 election campaign from national news outlets, a disquieting poll reveals some serious trust issues.

About half of Americans, 53%, say they are extremely or very concerned that news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation during the election. Some 42% express worry that news outlets will use generative artificial intelligence to create stories, according to a poll from the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll found 47% of Americans also expressing serious concern that news outlets would report information that has not been confirmed or verified, and 44% worry that accurate information will be presented in a way that favors one side or another.

Half of Americans say they get election news always or frequently from national news outlets, a percentage that is higher among older respondents, the poll found.

“The level of engagement is good,” said Michael Bolden, CEO of the American Press Institute. “The thing that's most concerning is that they're not sure they can actually trust the information.”

Years of suspicion about journalists, much of it sown by politicians, is partly responsible, he said. People are also less familiar with how journalism works. The poll found about half of respondents say they have at least a moderate amount of confidence in the information they receive from either national or local news outlets when it comes to the 2024 elections, though only about 1 in 10 say they have a great deal of confidence.

“There may have been a time when people knew a journalist because one lived on their block,” Bolden said. “The way the industry has been decimated, that's much less likely.”

Simply putting out the news often isn't good enough anymore, he said. There's a growing disconnect between news organizations and communities that the outlets need to address, by helping to let people know what journalists do and how people reporting news are their friends and neighbors, he said.

Outlets should lean into a convenor role, bringing people together for newsworthy events, he said.

About half of U.S. adults say they follow the news about presidential elections closely, with older adults being more engaged. About two-thirds of Americans age 60 or older say they keep a close eye on presidential election news, compared wth roughly one-third of those under age 30.

The same trend is seen with local and state election news. While the poll found that 46% of Americans age 60 or older say they follow news about local and state elections closely, only 16% of people age 18 to 29 said the same thing.

“As they transition to becoming older people, will they begin to care?” Bolden asked. “If they don't begin to care, what will that mean for local and state communities?”

Young people, those under age 30, are about as likely to get election news from social media or friends or family as they are to get it from national or local news outlets, the poll found. Black and Latino adults are somewhat more likely to express “a great deal” of confidence in the reliability of social media as a source of election news than white Americans are.

That's both a warning sign, since there is a lot more misinformation to be found on social media, and an opportunity for traditional outlets to make more of their work available this way, Bolden said.

About 6 in 10 Democrats say they get election news from national outlets at least frequently. That's more than the 48% of Republicans or 34% of independents, according to the poll. Republicans are more likely than Democrats and independents to express concern about inaccurate information or misinformation in news coverage during the upcoming elections. About 6 in 10 Republicans are concerned about this, compared with about half of Democrats.

Besides inaccuracies, many also expressed serious concern about election news that focuses too much on division or controversies or concentrates on who may win or lose — the horserace aspect of political coverage — rather than issues or the character of candidates.

Most Americans say that for them to make informed decisions about the 2024 state and local elections, they want national and local news outlets to highlight candidates’ values or their different positions on key social issues. In each case, about three-quarters of U.S. adults say they would like “a lot” or "some" coverage of these topics.

The poll of 2,468 adults was conducted March 21-25, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.

FILE - Journalists line the press stand before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a caucus night party in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 15, 2024. Attitudes toward the media and political news ahead of the election were explored in a poll from the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)