Canada's NDP

Skip to main content

May 28th, 2019

Unprecedented NDP Motion to Summon Facebook Executives Passes Unanimously

OTTAWA – An NDP motion tabled by Ethics Critic Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay) passed unanimously today at the joint meeting of the International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy and the House of Commons Ethics Committee.

The motion called on the committee’s chair to issue a legal summons to Facebook executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg when they next set foot on Canadian soil after they failed to appear today to answer for Facebook before 11 countries.

“This is a matter of basic corporate accountability,” said Angus. “It was shocking that Facebook’s founder and Chief Operating Officer refused to take responsibility for their company and appear personally to answer serious questions about privacy and democracy.”

The International Grand Committee, which includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Mexico, is meeting days after the Liberal government announced a toothless ‘digital charter’ that does nothing to rein in the American tech giants that dominate social media, advertising and many other areas of the digital economy.

“If there ever was a wake-up call to the Liberal government that has spent four years asleep at the wheel on the serious issues posed by the tech platforms, it should be Mr. Zuckerberg’s insult to the international community,” said Angus. “We will keep fighting to protect citizens’ privacy and democratic rights from the platforms and put an end to the Wild West of self-regulation.”