back to article We're Zuckers for a sequel: Brit MPs' battle to grill Facebook boss continues

British MPs desperate to grill Mark Zuckerberg over misuse of Facebook data have teamed up with their Canadian counterparts in a last-ditch attempt to lure the boss to the first ever international "grand committee". Mark zuckerberg in a buena vista style flat cap. Photo: shutterstock mashup Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg …

  1. Spazturtle Silver badge

    If the court summons me to stand as a witness what happens if I decide I don't want to turn up?

    The government need to actually enforce the law on businessmen who seam to think it doesn't apply to them, they should freeze all of Facebook accounts and operations in the UK until he shows his face.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The small niggle here is that Zuck is a US citizen as well as a US resident, and as long as he doesn't enter the UK there's not much that can be done to make him do anything.

      They could lock the company's doors in the UK, but Zuck is not an officer of that one so I'm guessing it would be hard to justify. And forget about Facebook Ireland, that's a company with £1 capital, owned by some chap living in Nicaragua :).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        And this will be the eternal game. "No located here". "Outside jurisdiction". Or even, as discussed here frequently "no tax obligations <here>".

        Maybe governments should use the tools they have and do what they have been doing before....

        Why not go to the generator of FB revenue and tax FB **users** for the use of FB? I know FB wants FB use to be "free", but then again, nobody and nothing would stop governments to tax FB users for their use of FB. After all, it has been done before, if you think about it I'm sure you can come up with a memory of some sort of silly tax (in the past). As a result, most likely FB will loose users because they now have to pay real money for FB, and FB looses its revenue base. And will immediately start spelling the word "compliant" differently...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Spazturtle

      re: "...enforce the law..."

      What law is that then?

      A Parliamentary committee isn't a court of law, it's just a opportunity for some privileged people to humiliate other people, often more privileged than them, that they don't like.

    3. eldakka

      @Spazturtle wrote:

      If the court summons me to stand as a witness what happens if I decide I don't want to turn up?

      The government need to actually enforce the law on businessmen who seam to think it doesn't apply to them, they should freeze all of Facebook accounts and operations in the UK until he shows his face.

      Maybe read and understand the article first, which stated:

      or the threat of a formal summons

      So, leaving aside the question of whether they have the legal authority to issue a summons to someone who is neither a citizen nor in the legal territory of the country, they haven't issued a summons yet.

      Since no summons has been issued, he is under no legal obligation to show up. And if such a summons is issued, it's pretty much settled law that a non-citizen who isn't in the countries territorial jurisdiction is not obligated to follow the laws of that country.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Zuck just doesn't give a...

    F*ck...

    Maybe they could ask for him to be extradited for questioning ?

    1. steelpillow Silver badge

      Re: Zuck just doesn't give a...

      "Maybe they could ask for him to be extradited for questioning ?"

      They can only do that if he is accused of a suitably serious crime under UK law. Not giving a shit is not a crime. Personally I'd like to see him holed up for a decade in a Latin American embassy with a badly house-trained cat and shit Internet access, but such things never happen in real life.

    2. Mark 85

      Re: Zuck just doesn't give a...

      More than likely he doesn't know squat about how FB works or even who is running certain areas. He's the guy in charge making the big bucks, so he has a ton of minions to deal with all that. After reading a few of his pronouncements and listening to him (briefly) in front of Congress, he's either just a front man or the "not knowing" is a act.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Angel

        Re: Zuck just doesn't give a...

        > [ ... ] he's either just a front man or the "not knowing" is a act.

        He's the frontman for the collective "not knowing" act ongoing at Facebook, in the Executive Suite.

    3. eldakka

      Re: Zuck just doesn't give a...

      Maybe they could ask for him to be extradited for questioning ?

      Sure, they can ask.

      But extradition usually requires treaties to be in place. And such treaties usually detail what conditions are required for extradition, such as either specific laws or minimum jail terms (i.e. seriousness of the crime), or criteria such that it must also be illegal in the country of residence as well. For example, murder yes, but an 19 year old US citizen (where alcoholic consumption is illegal for those under 21) drinking in a British pub (where the drinking age is 18), no.

      I doubt being hauled in for a public grilling before jumped-up publicity-seeking politicians falls under any such agreement.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why Keep a Dog and Bark Yourself?

    I thought Facebook hired Sir Nick to function as apologist at these kind of events.

  4. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Personally, I find it refreshingly honest.

    Zuck couldn't give a shit. And Zuck isn't afraid to show the world he doesn't give a shit.

    Surely it's a lot better than the faux deference folk are expected to show in these circuses ?

    Anyway, I can't see the UK being a key market for Facebook the way things are going. They're much more interested in all the UK businesses quietly moving to Dublin.

    1. streaky
      Facepalm

      Re: Personally, I find it refreshingly honest.

      Yep that's why Facebook are expanding their UK HQ. Oh hol up.

      It's no google megahq but they know that when the UK leaves the EU they'll have no legal method of pretending UK sales are taking place in the RoI unless May does something *monumentally* stupid like try to keep us in the SM for any period whatsoever.

      RoI gets the numpty operation, London gets the largest Facebook engineering hub in the world outside the US - and they made that decision long after the UK voted to leave the EU. Go on, paint your narrative, make my day.

      Course you don't have to take my word for it you can ask their VP of European Ops. "The UK’s flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem and international reputation for engineering excellence makes it one of the best places in the world to build a tech company. And we’ve built our company here – this country has been a huge part of Facebook’s story over the past decade, and I look forward to continuing our work."

      We've done google, we've done facebook, would you like to talk about Amazon expanding in the UK since the decision to leave, or Starbucks firing everybody in the Netherlands and moving all the jobs to London or one of the other isn't it weird how all the jobs are going the opposite way to what was claimed?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If only there was someone inside FB that could help... someone who savvy to the workings of the UK Government and in a position to bend the ears of them wots at the top

    1. JimmyPage Silver badge
      Happy

      Nick Clegg ...

      The idea of a Tory Home Secretary having to be nice to Nick Clegg warms my cockles. Especially if it evokes an "up yours ugly" response.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    FB Messenger

    Have they tried sending him a msg via FB Messenger or Whatsapp?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: FB Messenger

      Or add him as a friend on FB and post on his wall...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Whatsapp Mark

    Maybe the UK and Canada should form a Whatsapp group to discuss this.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "...rubbed some serious salt into the wound for the British politicians..."

    Good man.

    I like the cut of his jib.

  9. Ole Juul

    These guys are out to lunch

    It's painfully obvious what's wrong with Facebook. Talking with Zuckerberg is neither going to reveal nor change anything.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's the point?

    Even if Zuck were to show up it will still be just more of the same theater.

    Politicians with no grasp of technology (or reality) pretending to show outrage, and Zuck (or his robot snad-in) will again just appologize, promise to do better and say that Facebook: "takes users privacy and security seriously" and then pushes out more privacy envasive software and hardware anyways.

    This appears to me that it's just some more PR stunts from politicians and lawmakers.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    We could be heroes...... just for one day

    Maybe UK PLC could figure out a way to have a "no Facebook day" ?

    If for ONE day, we could somehow shutdown access to Facebook from the UK (oh hang on, make that England, Wales and Northern Ireland - Scotland will want a referendum on it) and eliminate any revenues for FB from their advertising engine. Maybe on a day leading upto a really busy time - say a holiday in December.

    In fact, if he doesn't want to talk, we could have a "FB Free" day every month.

    Imagine the benefits to the UK !

    :)

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