Washington, April 11: Appearing before the US House of Representatives, Facebook's Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said his own data, along with 87 million users, has been breached by the political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

Conceding the flaw in the Facebook's privacy mechanism, Zuckerberg said he is strenuously working "towards fixing it". The 33-year-old, who wore a dark suit rather than his trademark grey shirt, said his team at Facebook would not rest till the data of all users is totally secured.

The Facebook CEO, however, pushed back on allegations of the company deliberately keeping the users in dark about their privacy rights.

"Every time that someone chooses to share something on Facebook ... there is a control. Right there. Not buried in the settings somewhere but right there," he responded.

Impressed with Zuckerberg's defence, investors reposed faith in Facebook as the company's shares peaked a two-year high, closing up by 4.5 per cent.

Few among the lawmakers, however, were satisfied with Zuckerberg's answers. Democratic Senator Ed Markey marked his dissent against the  social media magnate's "attempt to deflect" the demand to support a legislation which would make it mandatory for companies to seek legal permission before using user's data.

Zuckerberg also drew flak from Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey, who said the Facebook cannot protect users' data if it has "no control over it". His remarks came in response to Zuckerberg's admission that his own personal data was stolen by Cambridge Analytica.

The data breach scandal came to light in the past month, after a former employee of Cambridge Analytica, Christopher Wylie, said the company illegitimately harvested the data of over 50 million Facebook users.

The consultancy group boasts about handling an array of political clients. Among those who sought it's services include the election campaign committee of US President Donald Trump, the company claims.

Cambridge Analytica is also accused of meddling in elections in India, as the group's subsidiary firm in India claims to have worked for the Congress, BJP and the Janata Dal (United).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 11, 2018 10:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).