Perhaps still smarting from the grilling he took in front of Congress (and the mocking his deadpan answers elicited), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg initially said no to the idea of a livestream of his testimony in front of the European Parliament Tuesday.
But early Monday morning, Zuckerberg reversed on that stance amid pressure from EU officials—and possibly from people within his own camp.
Antonio Tajini, president of the EU Parliament, announced via Twitter that Zuckerberg’s testimony would be streamed live. And you won’t have to log onto Facebook (FB) to watch it.
https://twitter.com/EP_President/status/998473764772950016
The exchange, set to take place Tuesday, will be streamed on the EU Parliament website Tuesday at 12:15 p.m. ET/9:15 a.m. PT. (Brussels is five hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time and eight hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time.)
It’s the latest reversal for Zuckerberg in this meeting with officials. Originally planned as a closed door meeting, the discussion about Facebook’s handling of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and user privacy became open to the public after a backlash about the original terms.
EU officials kept up the pressure, and Facebook internal staffers could have worried about the impact of reports from people in attendance, which might have been taken out of context.
EP President Tajani forced by five of the eight political groups – representing a majority of MEPs – to open the meeting with #Zuckerberg by webstreaming the hearing.
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) May 18, 2018
The EU Parliament testimony won’t be Zuckerberg’s only livestream on his European tour. He’ll also be interviewed onstage at the Viva Technology mega conference in Paris on Thursday. That chat will be streamed on the conference’s website.