Mark Zuckerberg’s Notes from Senate Hearing Leaked

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the Senate yesterday about user privacy at his company, but his notes from this hearing have since been leaked after they were captured in a photograph.

Gizmodo reports that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s notes from his recent hearing before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees in Washington have been leaked. Most of the notes reportedly related to data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica which allegedly accessed the personal data of 87 million Facebook users and were a key point of interest in the hearing.

This is a photo of Zuckerberg's notes. Here's one of his three proposed answers on whether Facebook is too powerful and needs to be broken up. "US tech companies key asset for America; break up strengthens Chinese companies" https://t.co/LM5Rq4lXCG pic.twitter.com/7T15igGWDF

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 11, 2018

One section of Zuckerberg’s notes allegedly referred to compensation, implying that Facebook was worried about possible fines being levied against the company. The notes didn’t address this as a possibility for the company but did give Zuckerberg guidance on how to deflect this line of questioning with the argument that  “No credit card information or [Social Security numbers] shared,” during the data scandal.

Zuckerberg was also prepared to respond to calls for him to resign from the company by taking responsibility for Facebook’s issues but promising to fix them in the future. “Founded Facebook. My decisions. I made mistakes,” the notes read. “Big challenge, but we’ve solved problems before, going to solve this one. Already taking action.” If it was suggested that big tech companies be “broken up” Zuckerberg planned to suggest that this action would be bad for the United States as the country; “US tech companies key asset for America; break up strengthens Chinese companies.”

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie also reported that Zuckerberg took part in mock trials before appearing before Congress in preparation for questioning. He also chose to sit on a large cushion in order to appear taller and more confident before the Senate,

Photo shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sitting on a booster cushion during his Senate hearing. pic.twitter.com/9QPrET08rY

— Joshua Dov Caplan (@joshdcaplan) April 10, 2018

Zuckerberg will appear before the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives in Washington later today.