Mark Zuckerberg’s insane to-do list for Facebook after facing Congress

During his two days of testimony in Washington, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent 10 hours answering questions on the Hill about the theft of user data by Cambridge Analytica, personal privacy and Russia’s involvement in the last U.S. presidential election, among many other topics. However Zuckerberg’s answers to many questions left many frustrated. Repeatedly throughout his testimony, the young billionaire told his inquisitors that he or his team would have to “get back to you” or “follow up” with the answers to their questions.

Assuming Washington doesn’t like to be kept waiting, here is Zuckerberg’s immediate to-do list for when he returns to Facebook’s headquarters at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo, Calif.

1. Third party breaches

Zuckerberg: “As for past activity, I don’t have all the examples of apps that we’ve banned here, but if you would like, I can have my team follow up with you after this.”

To do: Tell Sen. Chuck Grassley if there are any other known “instances where user data was improperly transferred to third party in breach of Facebook’s terms? If so, how many times has that happened, and was Facebook only made aware of the transfer by some third party?”

2. Fake account takedowns

Zuckerberg: “I’m happy to have my team follow up with you on more information, if that would be helpful.”

To do: Tell Sen. Dianne Feinstein how many fake accounts Facebook has taken down.

3. Youth opt-ins

Zuckerberg: “I do not know. We can follow up with that.”

To do: Tell Sen. Wicker if Facebook allows persons aged 13 to 17 to opt-in to sync their text messages into Messenger.

READ: The evil Doktor Facebook pleads his case in Washington

4. Off-Facebook tracking

Zuckerberg: “Senator I want to make sure I get this accurate, so it would probably be better to have my team follow up afterwards.”

To do: Tell Sen. Roger Wicker if Facebook “can track a user’s Internet browsing activity, even after that user has logged off of Facebook’s platform” and if Facebook “discloses to its users that engaging in this type of tracking gives us that result.”

5. Regulating Facebook

Zuckerberg: “I’ll have my team follow up with you so, that way, we can have this discussion across the different categories where I think that this discussion needs to happen.”

To do: Provide Sen. Lindsey Graham with some proposed regulations for the industry.

6. Where were the 87 million?

Zuckerberg: “I do not have that information with me, but we can follow up with your — your office.”

To do: Tell Sen. Amy Klobuchar if the 87 million Facebook users who had their information stolen by Cambridge Analytica “concentrated in certain states?” And where?

7. Notification of breaches

Zuckerberg: “I think we should have our team follow up with — with yours to — to discuss the details around that more.”

To do: Tell Sen. Klobuchar if Facebook would support a rule that would require it to notify its users of a breach within 72 hours?

8. What data syncs?

Zuckerberg: “Senator, I want to make sure we get this right. So I want to have my team follow up with you on that afterwards.”

To do: In instances where Facebook links people’s accounts across devices, tell Sen. Roy Blunt whether the sync includes “offline data, data that’s not necessarily linked to Facebook, but linked to one—some device they went through Facebook on?”

9. Off-Facebook device tracking

Zuckerberg: “That’s something that I would want to follow up on.”

To do: Tell Sen. Blunt if Facebook tracks devices that an individual has connected to Facebook when not connected to Facebook.

10. What is Facebook?

Zuckerberg: “I would need to follow up with you on that.”

To do: Tell Sen. Ted Cruz if Facebook considers itself “a neutral public forum, or [is it] engaged in political speech, which is [its] right under the First Amendment.”

11. Is Kogan still on Facebook?

Zuckerberg: “I believe the answer to that is no, but I can follow up with you afterwards.”

To do: Tell Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse if Aleksandr Kogan of Cambridge Analytica has a Facebook account still.

12. Privacy bill of rights for kids

Zuckerberg: “Senator, I look forward to having my team follow up to have my team flesh out the details of it.”

To do: Tell Sen. Ed Markey if Facebook would “support a privacy bill of rights for kids where opt in is the standard.”

READ: Mark Zuckerberg didn’t lie to us. We lied to ourselves.

13. Bug Bounty program

Zuckerberg: “Senator, I’m not — I’m not too sure I — I understand this enough to — to speak to — to that specific point, and I can have my team follow up with you on the details of that.”

To do: Tell Sen. Jerry Moran how Facebook sees “the Bug Bounty program that [we] have announced will deal with the sharing of information not permissible, as compared to just unauthorized access to data.”

14. Audits by civil rights organizations

Zuckerberg: “Senator, I think that’s a very good idea. And I think we should follow up on the details of that.”

To do: Tell Sen. Cory Booker if Facebook would be “open to opening [our] platform for civil rights organizations to really audit a lot of these companies dealing in areas of credit and housing, to really audit what is actually happening and better have more transparency in working with your platform.”

15. Nevada data theft

Zuckerberg: “Senator, I don’t have this broken out by state right now. But I can have my team follow up with you to get you the information.”

To do: Tell Sen. Dean Heller “ how many Nevadans were among the 87 million that received this notification?”

16. Data retention after deletion

Zuckerberg: I think we try to move as quickly as possible, and I can follow up or have my team follow up.

To do: Tell Sen. Heller how long Facebook keeps “a user’s data, once they — after — after they’ve left? If they — if they choose to delete their account, how long does [Facebook] keep their data?

17. Other Cambridge Analyticas?

Zuckerberg: “There’s one called Eunoia, and there may have been a couple of others as well. And I can follow up…”

To do: Tell Sen. Tammy Baldwin whether “Aleksandr Kogan sold any of the data he collected with anyone other than Cambridge Analytica?”

18. Excluding entities outside U.S.

Zuckerberg: “We’ll follow up on that.”

To do: Give Sen. Baldwin “further information on how [Facebook] can be confident that [we] have excluded entities based outside of the United States.”

19: Online drug sales

Zuckerberg: “We would be happy to follow up with you on that as well.”

To do: Tell Sen. Shelley Moore Capito if Facebook will commit to having a representative with FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb at a meeting about disrupting “the sale of illegal drugs and particularly the powerful opioid, Fentanyl, which has been advertised and sold online.”

20. Backups of data

Zuckerberg: “I can follow up with you on that afterwards”

To do: Tell Sen. Cory Gardner if “I.P. content is … the same thing as [our[ user data; it can sit in backup copies.”

21. Property rights for data

Zuckerberg: “We would love to follow up with you on this because this is very important to get right.”

To do: Tell Sen. Todd Young if Facebook would have to “fundamentally change the Facebook architecture to accommodate … a stronger property right for the individual online … [and] a stronger affirmative opt in requirement to be a user on Facebook.”

22. Facebook-Trump-Cambridge

Zuckerberg: “I can certainly have my team get back to you on any specifics there that I don’t know, sitting here today.”

To do: Tell Sen. Maria Cantwell if Facebook has any knowledge of Facebook employees working together with Cambridge Analytica and the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign.

READ: Why it’s finally time to crack down on Facebook

23. Unverified pages

Zuckerberg: “I’ll have my team get back to you.“

To do: Tell Sen. Leahy if “unverified, divisive pages are on Facebook today.”

24. Honest Ads Act

Zuckerberg: “I’m going to direct my team to focus on this.”

To do: Tell Sen. Tom Udall if Facebook will “come back up [to Washington] to be a strong advocate, to see that the [Honest Ads Act] is passed.

25. European-style regulation

Zuckerberg: “Let me follow up with you on that.”

To do: Tell Rep. Al Green whether users in the U.S. will have the same right “to object to the processing of their personal data for marketing purposes” as in Europe under the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation.

26. Blocked election advertising

Zuckerberg: “It’s quite possible that we made a mistake, and we’ll follow up afterwards on that.”

To do: Tell Rep. Fred Upton whether Facebook improperly failed to approve election advertising for Michigan state Senate candidate
Aric Nesbitt.

27. Protecting Conservatives on Facebook

Zuckerberg: “Let me follow up with you on that.”

To do: Tell Rep. Steve Scalise whether any Facebook employee was “held accountable in any way” after conservative blogging sisters Diamond and Silk were allegedly reported as “unsafe” by Facebook.

28. Is security data sold?

Zuckerberg: “I can follow up on the details of that.”

To do: Tell Rep. Scalise whether “data that is mined for security purposes” is “also used to sell as part of the business model.”