Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) issued the following statement today condemning Facebook’s continued lack of response to the Committee’s outstanding questions:
“It has been nine weeks since Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and we are still waiting for answers to our outstanding questions. Mr. Zuckerberg has thus far failed to ‘follow-up’ on the many questions he couldn’t answer during the hearing, and Facebook has not yet responded to many other questions staff asked at a briefing held two weeks prior to the public Committee hearing. Facebook’s refusal to respond is disappointing and frustrating, especially since some of our questions seem to have been partially answered in the press. Mr. Zuckerberg, I call on you to keep your word and get back to members of Congress promptly."
In addition to the outstanding questions from both the hearing and staff briefing, Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats have yet to receive Facebook’s response to their submitted questions for the record. The House Democrats released their questions for the record in April, 10 business days after the hearing, which is standard Committee protocol. The Republican Majority did not formally submit these questions until 19 days later, and gave Facebook a much longer response time of June 29 than the traditional two weeks.
