On April 10, Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg had to undergo over four hours of grilling at the hands of 42 United States senators at Capitol Hill in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Private information of over 50 million Facebook users in the United States were allegedly harvested by the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, according to a whistleblower who spoke to Observer in March.
The April 10 joint session held before two Senate panels, the Commerce and the Judiciary committees, had Zuckerberg facing a volley of questions regarding where his company stood in regard to protecting users’ data.
The 33-year-old tech mogul with a net worth of around $64 billion had never been part of such a public interrogation procedure before Tuesday. From the moment Zuckerberg stepped in to Capitol Hill, Twitterati unleashed a barrage of memes, quips and videos, highlighting the significance of the occasion.
anyway, here's zuckerberg's arrival set to the radiohead cover from "the social network" trailer pic.twitter.com/wsuA8GaVFY
— David Mack (@davidmackau) April 10, 2018
gonna have to untag a lot of photos pic.twitter.com/Ni3Bnskhba
— Kevin Townsend (@kevinstownsend) April 10, 2018
*record scratch*
— Joshua Topolsky (@joshuatopolsky) April 10, 2018
*freeze frame*
Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. pic.twitter.com/AyJ6GeadU9
The 2010 film The Social Network, which portrayed Zuckerberg (played in the film by Jesse Eisenberg) as a socially awkward geek, has helped foster the technocrat’s image as a man wary of human interaction. Throughout Tuesday’s hearing, Zuckerberg answered a volley of questions without appearing flustered even once, resulting in Twitterati wondering if the Facebook CEO was, indeed, human.
MAINTAIN YOUR HUMAN FORM. pic.twitter.com/9vzqt5MwH3
— Jonathan Hickman (@JHickman) April 10, 2018
It’s clear that Zuckerberg is trying to trick the country into thinking he’s human.
— Based Monitored 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@BasedMonitored) April 10, 2018
We know robots don’t need water, Mark. pic.twitter.com/fbFFMxhe4g
One Twitter user compared Zuckerberg’s composure to the Star Trek character Data, an android known for its inability to experience human emotions and yet striving hard to find a connection with its human colleagues.
Mark Zuckerberg’s manner has always reminded me of someone, but I could never quite grasp hold of it.
— Matthew Teague (@MatthewTeague) April 10, 2018
Just now it hit me, watching him testify about data. pic.twitter.com/4Zs2eGlsHD
Even the official Twitter account of Getty Images did not miss a chance to make a Zuckerberg joke.
Deer. Headlights. 📷: @somogettynews pic.twitter.com/mxzVlhnd4X
— Getty Images News (@GettyImagesNews) April 10, 2018
The internet did not even spare the supportive cushion that Zuckerberg had between himself and his chair at the hearing.
Zuckerberg takes his seat... on a 4-inch cushion. pic.twitter.com/ssp7IjF5MS
— Dana Milbank (@Milbank) April 10, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg went for Dinner with his wife after testifying in a booster pic.twitter.com/BVrOGfzrqE
— Michael J. Morrison (@OfficeOfMike) April 11, 2018
Even the person sitting behind Zuckerberg made it into a meme.
Mark #Zuckerberg: “You’re not allowed to have fake profiles on Facebook.”
— Mark Zuckerberg Memes (@ZuckerbergMemes) April 10, 2018
This guy’s reaction: 😂😭🙏 pic.twitter.com/Fi66W5MNXl
Some Twitter users could help but make fun of how young Zuckerberg was compared to the senators – whose average age was reportedly 62 – questioning him. Some of the memes implied that the senators were out of touch with the technology-related subjects that they attempted to discuss with Zuckerberg.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, a magazine i recently opened came with a floppy disk offering me 30 free hours of something called America On-Line. Is that the same as Facebook?” pic.twitter.com/U7pqpUhEhQ
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 10, 2018
SEN: What happened to Angry Birds
— ☕netw3rk (@netw3rk) April 10, 2018
ZUCK: That's not wh—
SEN: It was a thing then it kind of stopped. I would still like to play it but I changed phones.
ZUCK: [lawyer whispers in ear for 10 minutes] OK
ZUCKERBERG: im ready to answer any questions u might have about facebook
— Bob Vulfov (@bobvulfov) April 10, 2018
84-YEAR-OLD SENATOR: excellent. mr zuckerberg my farmville farm needs more pigs but i cannot figure out where to purchase them
WHY WON'T MY GRANDSON ACCEPT MY FRIEND REQUEST? pic.twitter.com/WEXonYDzKS
— David Mack (@davidmackau) April 10, 2018
Meanwhile, cartoonists on Twitter also had a field day at the expense of the Zuckerberg hearing.
My cartoon on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in today's @theheraldsun #Zuckerberg #Zuckerbergtestimony #ZuckerbergHearing pic.twitter.com/w5EzfwI94c
— Mark Knight (@Knightcartoons) April 11, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress in cartoons. @MarkFiore @KQEDnews Story: https://t.co/fngU9Cj73E pic.twitter.com/D2q3Fspcva
— KQED (@KQED) April 10, 2018
#MarkZuckerberg #TestimonyTuesday #Senate #Zuckerberg #Bots #Russia #troll #election #FacebookDataLeaks #Facebook #CambridgeAnalytics #databreaches #TuesdayThoughts #Tuesday #cartoon pic.twitter.com/aYcbMQnqPX
— Daily Cartoons (@DaylieKartunes) April 10, 2018