Nigel Farage set to confront Mark Zuckerberg about left-wing ‘bias’ on Facebook

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has promised to confront Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about bias on the social network.

Mr Zuckerberg will appear before the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, 22 May, to face questions about privacy and data misuse on Facebook.

As a Member of the European Parliament, Mr Farage will be in a position to ask Mr Zuckerberg about perceived bias on the platform that was previously raised by Republican lawmakers in the US.

“Later today I will confront Mark Zuckerberg about bias on Facebook,” Mr Farage said in a post to Twitter, alongside a photo of himself holding a piece of paper claiming to chart the “Facebook Algorithm Impact.”

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the profiles of 87 million Facebook users were compromised by the company and used for political profiling, Mr Zuckerberg appeared before Congress to face similar questioning.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz was among several legislators who took the opportunity to list instances of alleged censorship on Facebook, such as the complaint from two pro-Trump vloggers called Lynette ‘Diamond’ Hardaway and Rochelle ‘Silk’ Richardson.

The two sisters alleged that Facebook was preventing them from notifying followers of new videos in an attempt to limit their reach.

“To a great many Americans, that appears to be a pervasive pattern of political bias,” Senator Cruz told Mr Zuckerberg during the Congress hearing.

Mr Zuckerberg said at the time that it was a “fair concern” to have but denied the allegations.

The European Parliament meeting is set to be livestreamed at 5.15pm BST on Tuesday, 22 May.

Antonio Tajani, president of the European Parliament, backtracked on an announcement last week that the meeting would take place in private.

“I have personally discussed with Facebook CEO Mr Zuckerberg the possibility of webstreaming meeting with him,” Mr Tajani said on Twitter.

“I am glad to announce that he has accepted this new request. Great news for EU citizens. I thank him for the respect shown towards EP.”