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During the hearing, Senator Blumenthal pointed out past misrepresentations made by Zuckerberg regarding Facebook's compliance with Chinese censorship. A statement made in 2018 claimed the company lacked insight into Chinese regulations due to its unavailability in the country. The witness flatly contradicted this, establishing that the company had been in dialogue with the Communist Party for four years and had built tools that were being tested by Chinese officials.
This misrepresentation raises significant questions about corporate ethics and accountability in dealing with authoritarian regimes—an issue that is increasingly crucial in the digital age, where a company’s refusal to comply with local laws may also become a matter of principle, particularly in the face of civil rights.