Zuckerberg On NSA Scandal: US 'Blew It'

Mark Zuckerberg has said the US government "blew it" during the National Security Agency snooping scandal.

The Facebook founder and CEO was especially critical of the government's communications after the scandal over the US surveillance programmes erupted.

Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, he said: "Our job is to protect everyone who uses Facebook. Our government's job is to protect all of us and our freedoms, and the economy and companies.

"I think they did a bad job balancing those things here.

"Frankly, I think the government blew it."

Facebook and other internet giants have been fighting a public backlash after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden said they turned over user data to US surveillance programmes.

Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Yahoo! have all denied the allegations that the NSA can directly access their servers.

Mr Zuckerberg said the US government's initial assurance that it was not collecting information on Americans did not help global companies.

"(They said) don’t worry, we're not spying on any Americans.

"Wonderful, that's really helpful for companies trying to work with people around the world.

"Thanks for going out there and being clear. I think that was really bad," he added sarcastically.

He insisted Facebook had been "pushing just to get more transparency" on the issue, saying he thought it had made a big difference.

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer also touched on the issue, saying her company wants to "work within the system" as it deals with US government.

She said Yahoo! had been "sceptical" about US government requests for user information, and scrutinises such requests carefully.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Trade Commission has started an inquiry to determine whether Facebook's proposed new privacy rules breach a 2011 agreement with regulators.

Facebook posted an update to its data use policies on the company website on August 29 to explain how users' personal information is used by advertisers and third-party applications.

But the proposed changes drew criticism from privacy advocates.

Facebook insisted it was in full compliance with the FTC and its new policy did not grant the company expanded privileges in how it used personal data.