Facebook founder Zuckerberg rejects invitation to appear before UK MPs

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was today revealed to have refused an invite to appear before an “international grand committee” by Digital, Culture and Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee chairman Damian Collins

The 27 November hearing would have debated the social media giant’s role in perpetuating so-called fake news.

Collins had joined forces with his Canadian, Australian, Irish and Argentinian counterparts in making the bid to Zuckerberg, but failed to convince him to provide testimony as he had done in two sessions before the US government earlier this year.

In a letter to the Facebook founder, Collins said the chairs were “very disappointed with this dismissive response”, after the firm offered no suggestions as to how it could otherwise cooperate with the committees’ investigations into misinformation.

He added that as Zuckerberg had appeared before other entities, “we believe that you owe Facebook users in our countries that same line of accountability”. The chairs requested a response from the Facebook chief by the following Monday.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.