Second day of U.S. congressional hearings awaits Facebook CEO Zuckerberg

[April 11, 2018]  By David Ingram and Dustin Volz

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg returns to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for more questioning by lawmakers who have a rare chance to air grievances about the company directly to the head of the world's largest social media network.

The internet magnate is scheduled to testify at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, a day after he appeared for nearly five hours before a U.S. Senate hearing.

Zuckerberg, wearing a dark suit instead of his usual gray T-shirt, navigated through the first hearing on Tuesday without making any further promises to support new legislation or change how the social network does business, foiling attempts by senators to pin him down.

Investors were impressed with his initial performance. Shares in Facebook posted their biggest daily gain in nearly two years, closing up 4.5 percent on Tuesday.

Facebook has been consumed by turmoil for nearly a month, since it came to light that millions of users' personal information was wrongly harvested from the website by Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that has counted U.S. President Donald Trump's election campaign among its clients. The latest estimate of affected users is up to 87 million.

Patience with the social network had already worn thin among users, advertisers and investors after the company said last year that Russia used Facebook for years to try to sway U.S. politics, an allegation Moscow denies.

Lawmakers have sought assurances that Facebook can effectively police itself, and few came away from Tuesday's hearing expressing confidence in the social network.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is surrounded by members of the media as he arrives to testify before a Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees joint hearing regarding the company’s use and protection of user data, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

"I don't want to vote to have to regulate Facebook, but by God, I will," Republican Senator John Kennedy told Zuckerberg on Tuesday. "A lot of that depends on you."

Zuckerberg deflected requests to support specific legislation. Pressed repeatedly by Democratic Senator Ed Markey to endorse a proposed law that would require companies to get people's permission before sharing personal information, Zuckerberg agreed to further talks.

"In principle, I think that that makes sense, and the details matter, and I look forward to having our team work with you on fleshing that out," Zuckerberg said.

(Reporting by David Ingram in San Francisco and Dustin Volz in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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