Mark Zuckerberg has been compared to an A.I. robot by social media users during his intense US Senate hearing over the leak of personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users.
The Facebook founder and chief appeared before a US congressional hearing in a suit and tie to answer questions over how a US-British political research firm, Cambridge Analytica, allegedly harvested personal data on up to 87 million users.
But during the tough questioning, social media users likened Zuckerberg's lack of expression and emotion to a robot.
Social media users also livened up the slow Senate committee hearing with references to the movie about Facebook, The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg.
Viewers also noticed Zuckerberg was sitting on a cushion when speaking to the Congress committee.
An audience member also joined in the trolling of Zuckerberg.
A member of the audience was caught on camera wearing a blue and green pointy wig, aiming to look like a Russian troll, appeared at the Committee on Capitol Hill.
Zuckerberg has been mocked in the past, highlighted in a recent Saturday Night Live skit, for coming off as robotic when in front of the cameras.
A audience member wearing a blue and green pointy wig, aiming to look like a Russian troll as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a joint hearing. Source: AAP
Facebook became the platform of choice for a stunning Russian campaign of online misinformation that US intelligence says was designed to tilt the 2016 vote toward Donald Trump.
"It was my mistake, and I'm sorry," Zuckerberg said in prepared testimony. "I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here."
"It's clear now that we didn't do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm," he said. "That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy."
Lawmakers questioned whether the election meddling and poor controls on personal data requires the government to step in to regulate Facebook and other social media companies which generate revenue from user data.
- With AFP
