World News for Students of English

16-04-2018 15:00

Mark Zuckerberg took two days to testify before members of Congress last week, and he apologised for privacy breaches on Facebook.

He said that the social media website did not take a broad enough view of its responsibility, which was a big mistake. He continued to take responsibility for Facebook, saying that he started it, runs it, and he is responsible for what happens at the company.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin asked Zuckerberg whether he would be comfortable sharing the name of the hotel where he stayed the previous night, or the names of the people who he messaged that week. The CEO was startled by the question, and he took about 7 seconds to respond with no.

The senator used such techniques to illustrate the point of the hearing – people’s right to privacy, limits of the rights to privacy, and how much we give up in the name of ‘connecting people around the world’.

Difficult words: testify (formally answer questions, talk about what happened), breach (a problem, doing something illegal), CEO (the most important boss at a company), startled (shocked), hearing (a formal situation when somebody explains something).

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