WASHINGTON – Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg says he accepts responsibility for the social network’s failure to tell its users who has viewed their profile, 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 the US Congress.
“I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here. And I’m sorry I didn’t pay heed to the one thing that everyone values the most in social networking, knowing who showed interest in them, which of course is epitomized by the profile views, especially by those not on your friends’ or followers’ lists.”
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 bring even more good. That goes for data on users that click on your profile, how much time they spend on it, and what parts they mostly explore.”
“Most importantly I’m especially dejected that not only are these failures impacting the regular users, I’m extremely sorry that I can’t even tell the US lawmakers who has and hasn’t viewed their Facebook profiles,” the written statement said.
