Facebook Stock Soars As Mark Zuckerberg Testifies Before US Congress, Calms Investors' Fear

Facebook stock had its best day in nearly two years, as CEO, Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees, taking questions about the company’s data scandal. The company's stock soared 4.5 percent to $165.04 on Tuesday. This seemed to have calmed the investor's fear, as the CEO went for a extensive 5 hour grilling session. Ever since the controversy started coming in the news, Facebook shares had dropped almost 11 percent.

Zuckerberg formally apologized to Congress on Tuesday for mistakes that led to Cambridge Analytica gaining data of the social media’s users – the number now stands corrected from 80 million to 127 million users. He also stressed that his company is rethinking its responsibility to users and society. Zuckerberg, while testifying said, "I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here." "It's clear now that we didn't do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well. That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy. We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I'm sorry," Zuckerberg said. All throughout the session, Mark appeared extremely poised and fielded all the questions coming along his way smartly. However, he hasn't revealed any fresh news and plans on how the company is planning to tackle the problem.

Reportedly, the stock surge has added $2.8 billion to Zuckerberg's fortune, now $66 billion, making him the seventh richest person in the world. Zuckerberg owns slightly more than 16 percent of Facebook’s shares.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 11, 2018 12:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).