Seven years in the past, Mark Zuckerberg, the chief government of Meta, testified for the first time in Congress. After a two-week boot camp by his legal professionals to prep him, he answered questions in three back-to-back-to-back hearings over two days in a baptism by fireplace.
Mr. Zuckerberg, 40, has had much more observe since then. He has appeared earlier than Congress eight occasions and testified in court docket at the least twice, greater than any of his friends on the greatest tech corporations. He has defended his firm, beforehand referred to as Fb, on points equivalent to privateness, child safety and the spread of disinformation.
Mr. Zuckerberg on Monday once more took the new seat, this time because the marquee witness within the Federal Trade Commission’s landmark lawsuit accusing Meta of breaking antitrust regulation. Regulators sued the corporate within the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Columbia over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, saying it used a “buy-or-bury technique” to take care of a monopoly in social media.
Mr. Zuckerberg’s flip as a serial witness has change into a potent image of Washington’s rising frustration with the facility held by Silicon Valley, fueling makes an attempt to rein within the tech trade. Underneath President Trump, tech chief executives have cozied up to the administration in hopes that regulators will take a softer hand, however to date his appointees have signaled continued scrutiny.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have railed at Mr. Zuckerberg, accusing him of mendacity and having private accountability for varied societal harms. Earlier powerful questioning might assist him throughout his anticipated seven hours of testimony defending Meta within the antitrust trial, authorized consultants mentioned.
“He appears to be way more conscious of the audiences he’s talking to in comparison with his earlier years,” mentioned Adam Sterling, affiliate dean at Stanford Regulation College. “Whether or not it’s a deposition or a lawsuit or in entrance of the Senate, he can really craft the message to the recipients of it.”
Meta and the F.T.C. declined to remark.
It’s a far cry from Mr. Zuckerberg’s begin in a Harvard dorm room 21 years in the past. After constructing “The Fb,” he dropped out of faculty and moved to Silicon Valley to construct the social community. His successes and failures had been publicly scrutinized.
In 2021, he renamed the corporate Meta, an effort to shed among the firm’s baggage. He has just lately courted Mr. Trump, together with visiting the White Home this month to attempt to persuade the president and his aides to settle the F.T.C.’s go well with.
The federal government scrutiny and authorized challenges haven’t inflicted lasting wounds on the corporate. Meta’s inventory value has greater than doubled since Mr. Zuckerberg’s first look in Congress.
Mr. Zuckerberg is prone to face a extra grueling time on the stand on the antitrust trial, authorized consultants mentioned. Congressional hearings characteristic grandstanding by lawmakers, and they’re restricted to a couple minutes every. F.T.C. legal professionals plan to grill Mr. Zuckerberg for hours. Additionally they have a trove of his emails and different communications and plan to ask him to defend the paperwork that they are saying show his firm’s unwell intentions.
“A trial is a special beast since opposing counsel will likely be properly ready, ask higher questions and keep centered on their case,” mentioned Nu Wexler, a former coverage official for Meta and a principal for 4 Corners Public Affairs.
In 2017, Mr. Zuckerberg testified in Dallas in a trial over mental property theft claims by a online game firm, ZeniMax Media. He additionally testified in San Jose, Calif., in 2023 throughout an F.T.C. trial to block Meta’s acquisition of the digital actuality firm Inside.
This time, the F.T.C. is asking Choose James E. Boasberg to seek out Meta responsible of antitrust violations, so there may be “much more at stake,” mentioned Katie Harbath, a former public coverage director for Meta and the chief government of Anchor Change, a consulting agency.
For the primary half of Meta’s historical past, Mr. Zuckerberg shied away from unscripted public appearances. In 2010, he fumbled an interview at a know-how convention by struggling to reply to questions on privateness as beads of sweat ran down his face.
Most of his public witness expertise has come earlier than Congress.
Mr. Zuckerberg confronted an infinite backlash from Washington lawmakers after the 2016 presidential election. Studies surfaced that Facebook had given Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting agency, entry to folks’s social networking knowledge with out their consent.
That led to Mr. Zuckerberg’s look at packed hearings in Congress in April 2018. His legal professionals coached him to remain calm when interrupted and to postpone solutions to arduous questions, in keeping with Meta workers accustomed to the briefings.
“My workforce will get again to you,” he mentioned a number of occasions on the hearings.
The subsequent 12 months, Mr. Zuckerberg confronted questions from the Home Monetary Companies Committee on the safety and security of the corporate’s plans for a cryptocurrency called Libra.
Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, requested Mr. Zuckerberg about misinformation in political commercials and interrupted him. He winced sometimes and at occasions struggled to seek out solutions.
Consultant Maxine Waters of California, the Democratic chair of the committee on the time, accused Mr. Zuckerberg of placing the corporate’s fortunes forward its customers.
“You’re keen to step on anybody — your opponents, ladies and other people of shade, even our democracy,” Ms. Waters mentioned.
“I get that I’m not the perfect messenger for this proper now,” Mr. Zuckerberg replied. “We actually have work to do to construct belief.”
Mr. Zuckerberg did higher in his subsequent two appearances, authorized consultants and former workers mentioned, exhibiting extra polish and management of his solutions. He and the chiefs of Apple, Amazon and Google had been summoned in 2020 through the pandemic for a Home Judiciary Committee listening to on the facility of Huge Tech. In 2021, joined by the chief executives of Twitter and Google, Mr. Zuckerberg spoke to a Home committee about disinformation.
Final 12 months, Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, demanded throughout a baby security listening to that Mr. Zuckerberg apologize to oldsters who had misplaced their youngsters to bullying and different harms that Fb and Instagram had been accused of fueling.
“I’m sorry for every little thing you might have all been by,” Mr. Zuckerberg mentioned to oldsters who attended. “Nobody ought to undergo the issues that your households have suffered.”
Mr. Hawley mentioned it was vital to carry Meta and Mr. Zuckerberg accountable.
“This was my complete aim, to power a second of fact,” Mr. Hawley mentioned in an interview. “However the fact can also be that he retains crusing proper on forward and can achieve this till there are actual penalties from Congress and within the trial subsequent week.”
