On Oct. 23, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of social media platform Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), appeared before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee to testify on the prospective global cryptocurrency Libra, which his company is backing. He ended up enduring almost six hours of mostly critical questioning, as some of the legislators used the occasion to raise their concerns about many problematic aspects of Zuckerberg’s social media empire, even those not directly related to the cryptocurrency’s operation.
Those who expected the hearings to shed light on many substantive questions regarding Libra’s design and regulatory status that remain unanswered were likely left disappointed. Some observers noted that Zuckerberg was overall successful in achieving his tactical goal, which was to take the beating with humility while getting his main talking points across and making sure to dodge controversial questions.