UPDATE: Zuckerberg will begin his Capitol Hill appearances on April 10, testifying before a joint meeting of the Senate Judiciary and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committees.
The Facebook CEO is currently the sole witness at the hearing, which begins at 2:15 p.m. ET and will focus on "Facebook, Social Media Privacy, and the Use and Abuse of Data."
"Our joint hearing will be a public conversation with the CEO of this powerful and influential company about his vision for addressing problems that have generated significant concern about Facebook's role in our democracy, bad actors using the platform, and user privacy," Commerce Chairman John Thune said in a statement.
"Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate, using data to connect people from around the world. With all of the data exchanged over Facebook and other platforms, users deserve to know how their information is shared and secured. This hearing will explore approaches to privacy that satisfy consumer expectations while encouraging innovation," Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley added.
Yesterday, Facebook revealed that the Cambridge Analytica leak possibly affected up to 87 million users.
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Mark Zuckerberg is officially headed to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress on the Cambridge Analytica data leak.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has announced that Facebook's CEO will testify on Wednesday, April 11 at 10 a.m. about "the company's use and protection of user data" following the revelation that 50 million Facebook users had their data leaked to the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which assisted Donald Trump's campaign in the 2016 election.
"This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online," Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) said in a statement. "We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg's willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions on April 11."
In a statement to PCMag, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed the Energy and Commerce Committee's announcement and said that "conversations with the other committees continue." US lawmakers have asked Facebook's CEO to testify before at least three Congressional committees.
Last week, CNN reported that Zuckerberg had "come to terms with the fact that he will have to testify before Congress" and had started planning for it. During a media blitz late last month, Zuckerberg said he was open to testifying, but also suggested someone from his legal team might be better suited to appear.
"If...I am the most informed person at Facebook in the best position to testify, I will happily do that," he said.
Meanwhile, Facebook recently turned down a request for its CEO to appear before a UK parliament committee on the same issue. The company instead decided to make two senior executives available for the hearing.