The meeting between Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and the European Parliament will now be broadcast live online following pressure from MEPs.

“I have personally discussed with Facebook CEO Mr Zuckerberg the possibility of webstreaming meeting with him,” EU parliamentary president Antonio Tajani confirmed. “I am glad to announce that he has accepted this new request. Great news for EU citizens. I thank him for the respect shown towards EP.”

Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt was a little more militant in his appraisal of developments.

“EP President Tajani forced by five of the eight political groups - representing a majority of MEPs - to open the meeting with Zuckerberg by webstreaming the hearing,” he tweeted.

Verhofstadt was among those who criticised the initial decision that the talks would remain private, saying last week: “I will not attend the meeting with Mr Zuckerberg if it’s held behind closed doors. It must be a public hearing – why not a Facebook Live? I strongly regret that the @EPPGroup has colluded with extreme right to keep everything behind closed doors.”

The livestream can be viewed here and is expected to kick off at 17:15 tonight (May 22nd 2018).

Showdown

The meeting comes ahead of the enforcement of new European data protection regulations coming into force later this week.

It was last week confirmed that Zuckerberg “has no plans to travel to the UK”, despite repeated requests from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee for a similar meeting to that being held today.

Facebook’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer testified in parliament last month, although MPs have said that this alone is not sufficient.

“Mark Zuckerberg's right-hand man, whom we were assured could represent his views, today failed to answer many specific and detailed questions about Facebook's business practices,” committee chair Damian Collins said at the time.

“There are over 40 million Facebook users in the UK and they deserve to hear answers from Mark Zuckerberg about the company he created and whether it is able to keep its users' data safe.”

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