Congress Hints at Social Media Data Regulation to Boost User Privacy

Lawmakers Voice Support for Social Media Data Regulation

Daily Tech Briefing April 16
Written By
eWEEK Staff
eWEEK Staff
Apr 16, 2018
2 minute read
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Today’s topics include social media data legislation appearing likely after Facebook CEO’s Zuckerberg testimony to Congress, and Sony taking preorders for its new Xperia XZ2 smartphones.

Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg was the sole witness at a joint hearing by the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees on April 10 and a separate hearing by the House Commerce Committee on April 11 over user data misuse.

Despite Zuckerberg apologizing for mistakes that allowed UK political analysis firm Cambridge Analytics to gain access to millions of users’ profile data—including his own—and promising to do better, House and Senate lawmakers voiced support for legislation to boost social media users’ privacy protections.


South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Zuckerberg if he would submit to the committees what he thinks would be appropriate regulations for governing the protection of user data. Zuckerberg said that he would.  When asked if he would support such regulations, Zuckerberg replied, “If it’s the right regulation, yes.”

Sony’s latest flagship Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact smartphones are now available for preorders, but currently only through Best Buy. The handsets will be available at BestBuy.com starting April 20 and from other retailers, including Amazon, starting May 20.

The smartphones will be priced at $800 for the XZ2 and $650 for the XZ2 Compact model. Both phones feature X20 LTE and 4×4 MIMO wireless connectivity, along with a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 display cover, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, 4GB of memory, 64GB of built-in storage and a MicroSDXC slot for storage cards of up to 400GB.

The Xperia X72 features a 5.7-inch HDR Full HD+ display, while the compact version has a 5-inch display.

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