Zuckerberg to testify before European Parliament today

Brussels [Belgium], May 22 (ANI): Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify before the European Parliament to discuss the growing online data-privacy concerns here on Tuesday.
As reported by the New York Times, Zuckerberg will discuss the issue of the data breach by data analytics company Cambridge Analytica.
It is touted be a closed-door meeting, to be attended by leaders of the various political groups.
Leaders of the European Parliament's various blocs and the head of the body's civil liberties committee, which is holding hearings on the ongoing Facebook data breach case, will be the part of the meeting.
Data privacy is a major issue among European citizens. The European Union (EU) has been fighting with prominent American tech companies over data privacy for years.
The US government and EU were in an open conflict in 2015, when it withdrew a data sharing agreement because of "mass indiscriminate surveillance and interception" of personal data by the US authorities, CNN reported.
"The European tradition on privacy is stronger than that in the US, particularly in relation to corporate invasions of privacy, which from a European perspective the US seems to have been notably soft over in the last few decades," said Paul Bernal, senior lecturer in IT and media law at the University of East Anglia.
"Some members of the European Parliament are far more expert in the field than those in Washington," he added.
The testimony comes three days before tough laws on data protection comes into effect in the EU. Organisations would be fined 4 percent of global turnover if found violating the laws.
Zuckerberg will call on the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani and other dignitaries.
The social media mogul had been earlier questioned in the joint hearing of the members of the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee at the Capitol Hill over the issue of the data breach in April.
During that testimony, he admitted multiple incidents of the data breach as he said that his own personal information has been compromised.
Cambridge Analytica is accused of wrongfully accessing the data of over 87 million Facebook users to build political tools which allegedly influenced the US presidential election in 2016.
Following the accusations, the firm has shut down its offices all over the world, due to bankruptcy. (ANI)