Mark Zuckerberg protest: 100 cutouts at US Capitol as Facebook founder testifies

A “TROLL army of fake Mark Zuckerbergs” has been set up in Washington DC ahead of his testimony before US Congress. This is the reason why.

One hundred cardboard cutouts of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stand outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Picture: AFP

CALLING all Mark Zuckerbergs.

Global advocacy group Avaaz has set up 100 cardboard cutouts of the Facebook founder on the lawn of the US Capitol as the 33-year-old testifies to Congress.

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About 100 life-size cutouts of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sit on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Picture: Getty

The Zuckerbergs all sport an identical grimace and black T-shirts reading “Fix Facebook.”

Avaaz said the protest was done to “call attention to the hundreds of millions of fake accounts still spreading disinformation on Facebook.”

“The group is calling on the CEO to ban all bots, alert the public any and every time users see fake or disinformation, fund fact checkers around the world, and submit to an independent audit to review the scale and scope of fake news,” Avaaz said.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (C) is escorted by US Capitol Police in Washington DC. Picture: Getty

Zuckerberg is being grilled by a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees today, followed by a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing tomorrow.

He is answering questions about how Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy which worked for the Trump 2016 campaign, improperly obtained the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users in its scheme to influence the US presidential election.

Fakerberg wakes up early to prepare for his Senate hearings. Get ready... #FixFakebook pic.twitter.com/ZfKDD9Dxhy

— Avaaz (@Avaaz) April 10, 2018

The social media giant has started rolling out a tool that will allow Facebook users to see whether their data was harvested by Cambridge Analytica.

Protesters also appeared in the hearing, calling on Facebook to “stop spying”.

Protesters attend the hearing where Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before a combined Senate Judicary and Commerce committee. Picture: Getty

The handful of protesters who made it inside the hearing held up signs while wearing glasses to protect their identities.

Originally published as Mark Zuckerberg protest: 100 cutouts at US Capitol as Facebook founder testifies