Mark Zuckerberg asked to testify before Congress as agency confirms investigation into Facebook data scandal

Political pressure on Facebook continued to intensify as a key Senator invited CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before Congress and a regulatory agency confirmed it had launched an investigation. The scrutiny stems from revelations that a political consultancy employed by Donald Trump's presidential campaign harvested some 50 million Facebook users' worth of data via a survey app. As Facebook executives have scrambled to reassure users their personal information remains protected, elected officials have demanded Mr Zuckerberg himself appear before Congress. That push gained momentum with the embrace of Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who chairs the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. Paralleling the augmented attention from Congress, the Federal Trade Commission confirmed it had opened an investigation into Facebook's privacy and data security practices.