LIVE: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is about to testify to Congress

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LIVE: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is about to testify to Congress

facebook ceo mark zuckerberg

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (C) leaves the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) after meeting with Feinstein on Capitol Hill on April 9, 2018 in Washington, DC.

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Mark Zuckerberg is facing what may be the toughest grilling of his life.

On Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. ET (11:15 a.m. PT, or 7:15 p.m. BST), the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying before a joint committee hearing of the United States Senate.

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His appearance comes in the wake of a string of scandals - most recently from Cambridge Analytica improperly obtaining as many as 87 million users' personal data, but also the intense blowback the company has faced over fake news and its role in Russian interference in American elections.

Business Insider is in attendance at the hearing, and will be bringing readers all the news live - scroll down for the latest updates, including a livestream once it kicks off.

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Facebook has quietly hired a team of experts, including a former adviser to President George W. Bush, to prep Zuckerberg ahead of the hearing. The 33-year-old executive is not a natural public speaker, and can sometimes come across as awkward and uncomfortable on stage. In an on-stage interview in 2010 - where he was again grilled over privacy - Zuckerberg sweated so much he had to take off his signature hoodie.

The challenges Facebook now face are immense, and the Cambridge Analytica revelations have snowballed into a broader crisis over the company's approach to privacy and accountability. The controversy is only heightened by the leak of an executive's memo defending growth at any cost, even if people died.

The reception of Zuckerberg's testimony on Tuesday - and at a second Congressional hearing on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT, or 3 p.m. BST) - has the potential to define how Facebook is seen as responding to these crises going forward.

Updates will appear below as they come in...

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