Seven years ago, Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive of Meta, testified for the first time in the congress. After a two-week boot camp by his lawyers to prepare him, he answered questions in three back-to-back-to-back hearings for two days in a baptism.
Mr. Zuckerberg, 40, has had more practice since then. He appeared eight times before the congress and testified at least twice in court, more than one of his colleagues at the largest technology companies. He has defended his company, formerly known as Facebook, about issues such as privacy, child safety and the distribution of disinformation.
Mr. Zuckerberg took the hot chair again on Monday, this time as the tent witnessed in the historical trial of the Federal Trade Commission that accused the meta of violating antitrust legislation. Regulators sued the company in the American court for the district of Columbia about the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp and said it used a “buy-or-bury strategy” to maintain a monopoly in social media.
Mr. Zuckerberg's turn as a serial witness has become a powerful symbol of Washington's growing frustration with the power of Silicon Valley, causing attempts to curb the technical industry. Under President Trump, Tech -Chief Executives have the administration to the hope that supervisors will take a softer hand, but have so far have indicated a continuous check.
On Capitol Hill, Wetgevers have remedied Mr. Zuckerberg and accuse him of lying and have personal responsibility for various social damage. Previous difficult interrogation could help him during his expected seven hours of testimonies defending Meta in the Antitrust process, said legal experts.
“He seems to be much more aware of the audience with whom he speaks compared to his earlier years,” said Adam Sterling, associated Dean at Stanford Law School. “Whether it is a statement or a lawsuit or for the Senate, he can actually make the message to the recipients.”
Meta and the FTC refused to comment.
It is far removed from the start of Mr. Zuckerberg in a dormitory of Harvard 21 years ago. After building “The Facebook” he stopped school and moved to Silicon Valley to build the social network. His successes and failures were publicly investigated.
In 2021 he renamed the Bedrijfsmeta, an attempt to throw part of the company's luggage. He recently praised Mr. Trump, including visiting the White House this month to try to convince the president and his assistants to arrange the PACH of the FTC.
The supervision of the government and legal challenges have not inflicted lasting wounds to the company. Meta's share price has more than doubled since Mr. Zuckerberg's first performance in the congress.
Mr. Zuckerberg is likely to be confronted with a more debilitating time at the state of the antitrust process, said legal experts. Congress hearings contain greatness of legislators and they are limited to each for a few minutes. FTC lawyers are planning to grill for hours Mr. Zuckerberg. They also have a blow of his e -mails and other communication and are planning to ask him to defend the documents that, according to them, prove the bad intentions of his company.
“A process is another beast, because opposing counselor will be well prepared, ask better questions and remain focused on their case,” said Wexler, a former policy officer for Meta and a director for four corners of Public Affairs.
In 2017, Mr. Zuckerberg witnessed in Dallas in a process on theft claims of intellectual property of a video company company, Zenimax Media. He also testified in San Jose, California, in 2023 during an FTC test to block the acquisition of the Virtual Reality company.
This time the FTC Judge James E. Boasberg asks to find Meta guilty of antitrust violations, so there is “much more at stake,” said Katie Harbath, a former director of the public policy for Meta and the Chief Executive of Anchor Change, a consultancy.
For the first half of the history of Meta, Mr. Zuckerberg shunned away from unwritten public performances. In 2010 he rumbled an interview at a technology conference by struggling to respond to questions about privacy when sweat beads ran over his face.
The majority of his public witness experience came before the congress.
Mr Zuckerberg was confronted with a huge recoil of Washington's legislators after the 2016 presidential elections. Reports came up on Facebook Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy firm, gave access to the social network data of people without their permission.
That led to the appearance of Mr. Zuckerberg on packaged hearings in the congress in April 2018. His lawyers coached him to remain calm when they interrupt and answer answers to difficult questions, according to Meta employees who are familiar with the briefings.
“My team will contact you,” he said several times during the hearings.
The following year Mr. Zuckerberg was confronted with questions from the House Financial Services Committee about the security and security of the company's plans for a cryptocurrency called Libra.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat van New York, asked Mr. Zuckerberg for wrong information in political advertisements and interrupted him. He occasionally shivered and sometimes had trouble finding answers.
Representative Maxine Waters or California, the then the Democratic President of the Commission, accused Mr Zuckerberg to improve its users' fortune.
“You are willing to step on everyone – your competitors, women and people of color, even our democracy,” said Mrs. Waters.
“I understand that I am not the ideal messenger for this,” Mr. Zuckerberg replied. “We certainly have to do work to build trust.”
Mr. Zuckerberg did better in his next two performances, said legal experts and former employees, who showed more Polish and control over his answers. He and the leaders of Apple, Amazon and Google were called in 2020 during the pandemic for a hearing of the Judiciary Committee house about the power of Big Tech. In 2021, accompanied by the Chief Executives of Twitter and Google, Mr. Zuckerberg spoke with a house committee about disinformation.
Last year Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, demanded during a hearing of the safety of children that Mr. Zuckerberg apologized to parents who had lost their children to bullying and other damage accused of Facebook and Instagram of refueling.
“I'm sorry for everything you've experienced,” Mr. Zuckerberg told parents who were present. “Nobody has to go through the things that your families have suffered.”
Hawley said it was important to keep Meta and Mr. Zuckerberg responsible.
“This was my whole goal to force a moment of truth,” Mr Hawley said in an interview. “But the truth is that he will continue to sail and will do this until there are real consequences of the congress and in the process next week.”
