Government regulation of social-media industry ‘inevitable,’ Facebook’s Zuckerberg acknowledges

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted Wednesday that government regulation of the social-media industry he helped create is “inevitable.”

Appearing before the House Energy and Commerce committee less than a day after he endured a roughly five-hour session before a Senate panel, Mr. Zuckerberg told Capitol Hill lawmakers that it is “inevitable that there will be some sort of regulation” but he also warned that Washington must be careful in what it proposes.

“The internet is growing in importance around the world in people’s lives and I think that it is inevitable that there will need to be some regulation,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “So my position is not that there should be no regulation but I also think that you have to be careful about regulation you put in place.”

The billionaire noted, however, that larger companies like Facebook have more resources to comply with regulations.

Over the course of the hearings, lawmakers from both side of the aisle have questioned Mr. Zuckerberg over possible regulation of Facebook and other social media companies in the wake of recent scandals over the massive social networking company’s failure to protect private data.

Senators also accused the firm, which has about 2 billion users worldwide, of failing to stop the Kremlin from manipulating the platform to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.