'Who is going to protect us from Facebook?': US lawmakers ask Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg was confronted Wednesday by lawmakers scoffing at his apologies over lapses in protecting user privacy and pledges to do better, with one member asking, “Who’s going to protect us from Facebook?”

The question by Representative Janice Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, was echoed by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee from both parties as the founder of Facebook Inc. was questioned on Capitol Hill for a second consecutive day.

Representative Greg Walden of Oregon, the House panel’s Republican chairman, said Zuckerberg needed to account for “alarming reports of breaches of trust between your company -- one of the biggest and most powerful in the world -- and its users.”

While the criticism was bipartisan, members of the Democratic minority were more assertive in saying expanded government regulation is the answer.

Facebook scandal: Cambridge Analytica may be probed for breaking poll laws

A top American senator has sought an investigation into potential violations of federal election law by Cambridge Analytica (CA), the scandal-hit communications firm at the heart of the Facebook data scandal.

Whistleblower Christopher Wylie, a founding employee of CA, has accused that the firm, hired by Donald Trump during his primary campaign, illegally mined tens of millions of users' Facebook data and then used it to target potential voters.

In a letter to the FEC, Senator Richard Blumenthal said that Wylie's disclosures have raised significant issues that warrant the attention of the FEC pertaining to the involvement of foreign nationals and political action committees in the management of election campaigns.

"I urge the FEC to take these allegations seriously, open an investigation into possible violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by Cambridge Analytica and its clients, and take enforcement action as necessary," Blumenthal wrote.