*By Alisha Haridasani and Jacqueline Corba*
European lawmakers aggressively questioned Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, indicating they may consider further restricting the social media company's unchecked growth and regulating its business practices.
Zuckerberg, meeting publicly with members of the European Parliament in Brussels, again apologized for the company's failure to protect the personal data of millions of Facebook users from a third-party app that shared their information with the British research firm Cambridge Analytica.
"We haven't done enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm," Zuckerberg said Tuesday, echoing the apology he offered Congress in testimony last month in Washington. "That was a mistake."
But European lawmakers were even more confrontational than their American counterparts, piling questions on Zuckerberg over Facebook's failure to combat fake news, thwart foreign interference in democratic elections, and limit the access of private data collected from its users.
"They asked very intelligent questions that were drawn from the hearings in the Senate and the House of Representatives, building on them in very interesting ways," said Adi Robertson, a senior reporter for The Verge.
A German member of the European Parliament asked pointedly about Facebook’s market share, and whether it should be subject to [antitrust regulations](https://www.c-span.org/video/?446000-1/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-testifies-eu-lawmakers), a common theme in Tuesday's questions.
“It is time to discuss breaking Facebook’s monopoly because it’s already too much power in only one hand?” said Manfred Weber, the head of the European Parliament’s majority party, the European People's Party.
Guy Verhofstadt, a Belgium leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, suggested the company should consider splitting up WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger. “Could you or would you cooperate with the European antitrust authorities?” he asked Zuckerberg.
This line of questioning about Facebook's monopoly position was very "aggressive," said Roberson.
After all of the lawmakers asked their questions, Zuckerberg chose a few to answer at the end of the session, and he vowed to respond to the rest with written statements. With so many of their questions unanswered and no time remaining, the meeting bizarrely descended into back-and-forth bickering among lawmakers over the flawed format of the hearing.
"It seems like even people who were there on the floor were sort of baffled by the choice of panel," said Robertson.
Zuckerberg's questioning took place days before Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, goes into effect. The new law, one of the most sweeping privacy protection laws in the world, requires all companies to share how online user data is used and offer users the option to delete their data. Companies that fail to comply can be fined up to 4 percent of their global revenue.
Zuckerberg said Tuesday that Facebook would extend to users elsewhere in the world the same data privacy protections that European citizens will have under the new law.
“At the heart of Europe’s new data protection law, the GDPR, are three important principles: control, transparency, and accountability,” he said. “We’ve always shared these values.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/zuckerberg-testifies-to-european-parliament).
While people have been spending more time on their phones throughout the pandemic, a new report shows they were also spending more money as well. A review from Sensor Tower on the global app ecosystem this year found that the app economy will see record consumer spending in 2021, up nearly 20% from 2020. Sensor Tower director of sales and financial institutions Anthony Bartolacci joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to break down the report.
The future of gambling in Florida recently suffered a major setback after a federal appeals court rejected a request from the state and the Seminole Tribe to allow online sports betting in the state. Now, the tribe has been forced to stop taking bets on its Hard Rock sportsbook app. ESPN gaming writer David Purdum joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the future of sports betting in Florida.
Lance Ippolito, Head Trader at the Future Of Wealth, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell where he discusses the factors that have contributed to the recent slide of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether.
Web3 software startup Thirdweb has raised $5 million in a funding round, coming from a group of high-profile investors, including Gary Vaynerchuk and Mark Cuban. Thirdweb says it is paving the way for the revolution surrounding the new iteration of the internet known as web3, by offering users free tools to build their own web3 projects. Thirdweb's co-founders Steven Bartlett and Furqan Rydhan join Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Decentralized talent network Braintrust recently closed an atypical equity deal that involved investors buying $100 million in Braintrust tokens, the company's cryptocurrency. Braintrust's talent network is built on blockchain technology, which the company says allows it to be owned and built by users, instead of a centrally-controlled corporation. Braintrust users can also earn tokens for their contributions to the network and its growth. Braintrust co-founder Adam Jackson joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Blue Origin launched its third manned mission over the weekend with 'Good Morning America' host Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard on board, alongside several Blue Origin investors.
This comes after the spaceflight firm launched two successful missions to the edge of space earlier this year. How will these missions set up Blue Origin for success as it competes with SpaceX and other companies for space tourism domination and more? Joey Roulette, space reporter at The New York Times, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Editorial and stock photo provider Getty Images is gearing up to make its public debut via a SPAC merger with CC Neuberger Principal Holdings II bringing it to a $4.8 billion valuation. CEO Craig Peters joined Cheddar to break down the decision to go public and noted that the merger will help to pay down debt. "That's going to really enable a lot of additional free cash flow and financial flexibility into the business," he noted. "That's just going to allow us to just invest more aggressively into the business to accelerate what is already accelerating growth." Peters also discussed the legacy image platform's place going forward in the expanding world of digital assets like NFTs and the metaverse.
Headspace Health has just launched the 'Headspace for Teens' social impact initiative, which will offer free access to the Headspace app for all teens ages 13 - 18 in America. Alice Nathoo, head of social impact at Headspace joins Cheddar News to talk about the program.
