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British lawmakers just tore into a Facebook exec over Cambridge Analytica scandal

Here's why Mark Zuckerberg dodged Parliament.

Within minutes of sitting down to face questions from Parliament, Facebook’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer found out why CEO Mark Zuckerberg had dodged a request to appear before the U.K. lawmakers.

Damian Collins, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, and his colleagues hammered Schropfer on the details of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, its impact on the Brexit vote, and Facebook’s overall business model and how it influences the democratic process around the world.

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It got ugly very fast.

Conservative MP Julian Knight said Facebook’s actions suggest a “pattern of behavior” that included “bullying journalists, threatening academic institutions, and potentially impeding investigations by lawful authorities.”

He summed up his thoughts when he said: “I put it to you that Facebook is a morality-free zone. You aren’t an innocent party maligned by the likes of Cambridge Analytica: You are the problem.”

Read: Cambridge Analytica whistleblower says #DeleteFacebook is not the answer

Most experts monitoring the hearing Thursday morning drew comparisons to the recent U.S. Senate and House hearings where Zuckerberg faced a total of 10 hours of questioning — with most pointing out that the MPs’ questions were much more informed and critical.

Unlike the five minutes given to U.S. lawmakers, the DCMS committee members were given free reign to question Schroepfer, who was sitting in the hot seat because his boss had declined a direct invitation from Collins, the third time the Facebook founder has dodged questions from U.K. lawmakers.

During the hearing, Collins claimed the EU had confirmed that Zuckerberg had agreed to come to Brussels to answer lawmakers' questions there. While the EU would not immediately confirm the visit to VICE News, Collins said he would once again be requesting the Facebook CEO’s attendance in front of the committee.

Here are the four biggest revelations from the hearing:

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  • Schroepfer revealed that Facebook found “billing and administration connections” between Canadian ad firm AggregateIQ and Cambridge Analytica, despite the two firms denying those links. AggregateIQ is alleged to have improperly accessed the Facebook data originally collected by Cambridge Analytica and used it to push Brexit-related ads and pages to voters in 2016.
  • Schroepfer claimed Facebook didn’t know that Joseph Chancellor was the co-founder of GSR when he was hired by the company in November 2015, and only found out about the link “quite recently.” Chancellor founded GSR with Aleksandr Kogan, and went on to harvest the data of tens of millions of Facebook users before passing it to Cambridge Analytica. Schroepfer’s claim has been strongly disputed by experts.

  • Schroepfer was asked to apologize for his company’s “bullying” of U.K. journalists who first broke the recent scandal. The executive initially failed to do so, saying the company understood this to be “normal practice in the U.K.” Knight reiterated his call for an apology, and the executive conceded: “I am sorry that journalists feel we are attempting to prevent the truth coming out. I am sorry.”

  • In a bid to appease lawmakers in Britain, Schroepfer announced that feature it previously announced in the U.S. last year - that political ads on Facebook will be vetted and transparent - will arrive in England and Northern Ireland in time for 2019 local elections. Only verified accounts will be allowed to pay for political ads, and users will be able to view all promotions paid for by a campaign — a feature rolled out in Ireland this week in relation to its upcoming abortion referendum.

Cover image: A Mark Zuckerberg figure with people in angry emoji masks outside Portcullis House in Westminster, London ahead of Mike Schroepfer, Chief Technology Officer at Facebook, appearing before the DCMS inquiry into fake news. (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images)