WASHINGTON: Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg says he accepts responsibility for the social network’s failure to protect private data and prevent manipulation of the platform, according to testimony released on Monday on the eve of his first Congressional appearance.

“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.”

Read: Zuckerberg’s shine dims as guardian of Facebook users

Zuckerberg will testify before senators on Tuesday and a House panel on Wednesday amid a firestorm over the hijacking of data on millions of Facebook users by the British firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked with Donald Trump’s campaign.

In his written remarks, Zuckerberg called Facebook “an idealistic and optimistic company” and said: “We focused on all the good that connecting people can bring.” But he acknowledged that “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, as well as developers and data privacy.”

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2018