Facebook boss 'open' to testifying before Congress

Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) boss Mark Zuckerberg has said he is "open" to testifying before the US Congress on the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Mr Zuckerberg was being interviewed for the first time since his company shed tens of billions of dollars of its value amid concerns over the alleged harvesting of user data by the UK political consultancy firm.

Breaking days of silence with the interview and a statement released on Facebook, the chief executive said:

He added that in response to the scandal, Facebook would investigate all of the apps which had access to large amounts of data before 2014, when the company's policies regarding data access changed.

Perhaps most significantly in terms of its potential affect on Facebook's bottom line, Mr Zuckerberg said:

"We will restrict developers' data access even further to prevent other kinds of abuse. For example, we will remove developers' access to your data if you haven't used their app in three months.

"We will reduce the data you give an app when you sign in -- to only your name, profile photo, and email address. We'll require developers to not only get approval but also sign a contract in order to ask anyone for access to their posts or other private data."

Finally, Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook would be setting up a tool to sit at the top of the News Feed to show everybody what apps they've used and offer them an easy way to revoke those apps' permissions.

This tool already exists, but currently sits in users' privacy settings. Mr Zuckerberg said that putting it at the top of the News Feed would "make sure everyone sees it".

Facebook's response to the scandal sees it accuse Cambridge Analytica, which was hired by Donald Trump's campaign team, of potentially illegally using the personal data of 50 million Facebook users.

Mr Zuckerberg told CNN that he was happy to testify before Congress regarding the scandal, "if it's the right thing to do" but suggested executives might be better qualified to answer those questions.

He said that it was "clearly a mistake" to trust Cambridge Analytica in 2015 when it said it would delete the data it had gained from Facebook, the world's largest social media network.

Apologising for the "breach of trust", Mr Zuckerberg said: "I'm really sorry this happened.

"We have a basic responsibility to protect people's data."

:: Facebook had 'wild west' approach to data security

He also said, however, that he had not seen a "meaningful number of people" deleting their accounts on the social network since news of the scandal broke.

Facebook is currently facing investigations by authorities in the UK, EU and the US and Mr Zuckerberg has been sent a formal request to appear before British MPs and answer questions.

The scandal has also strengthened calls for Facebook and other social media to be subject to regulation, and Mr Zuckerberg said he was not against this.

"I'm not sure that we shouldn't be regulated," he said.

"I think technology is an increasingly important trend in the world.

"I actually think the question is more: what's the right regulation, rather than, yes or no, should it be regulated."

:: Cambridge Analytica scandal - The key players

Mr Zuckerberg was speaking just hours after he posted a statement online saying his company "made mistakes" over the alleged misuse of users' data.

He also said that Facebook was committed to stopping interference in the US midterm election in November and upcoming elections in India and Brazil.

• If Facebook doesn't protect user data, it doesn't deserve users

• Accused Cambridge Analytica of not deleting data as promised

• Said Facebook not seeing "meaningful number" of account deletions