Facebook wants to ensure protection of integrity of elections in India: Zuckerberg

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg during his congressional hearing on Tuesday said he wants to ensure protection of integrity of elections, mentioning that he knows the importance of the upcoming polls in countries, including India, Hungary and Brazil.

Zuckerberg faced a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees.

He noted that there are several important elections in 2018 in countries like India, Hungary and Brazil and his company wants to ensure protection of integrity in these elections.

Zuckerberg, 33, testified before the senators and a House panel amid a firestorm over the alleged hijacking of data of millions of Facebook users by British firm Cambridge Analytica.

He offered an apology to US lawmakers as he made a long-awaited appearance in a congressional hearing on the hijacking of personal data on millions of users.

Reading from his written testimony, Zuckerberg repeated a statement he had previously made, saying the misuse of data "was my mistake, and I'm sorry." 

"It will take some time to work through all of the changes we need to make, but I'm committed to getting it right," Zuckerberg told a Senate hearing.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to the US Congress and accepts responsibility over the Cambridge Analytica scandal for "not doing enough" to protect its users' personal data being misused.

In a testimony released on Monday on the eve of his first Congressional appearance, Zuckerberg accepts responsibility for the social network's failure to protect private data of its 87 million users and prevent manipulation of the platform.

"We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I'm sorry," Zuckerberg said in his written testimony released by a House of Representatives panel.

"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 as well. That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech," Zuckerberg said.