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Lawmakers Seem Very Concerned About A Lack Of Transparency At Facebook

The topic resurfaced several times during Mark Zuckerberg's Senate testimony Tuesday.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before two Senate committees Tuesday, and lawmakers kept coming back to one topic: concern over the company's lack of transparency.

Zuckerberg admitted to Congress that "long privacy policies are very confusing."

Sen. Lindsey Graham expanded upon that idea. After reading a lengthy passage from Facebook's terms of service, Graham said:

"I'm a lawyer, and I have no idea what that means. But when you look at terms of service, this is what you get. Do you think the average consumer understands what they're signing up for?"

Sen. Richard Blumenthal brought the idea home when he asked if Zuckerberg would support legislation like Blumenthal's CONSENT Act, which would make companies explain their data policies in a way average users can understand.

He asked: "Don't you agree that companies ought to be required to provide users with clear, plain information about how their data will be used and specific ability to consent to the use of that information?"

 Zuckerberg said the idea "makes sense to discuss." The CONSENT Act was introduced Tuesday.