Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced hours of questioning Tuesday before Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees about Cambridge Analytica, which used personal data for its political strategies, and other security concerns on the social network.
Throughout the hours of grilling, several senators alluded to Facebook’s inscrutable and complex user agreement, arguing that the text is written so that the average user likely does not understand how their data is being used by the company. But no one put it as bluntly as Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).
“Your user agreement sucks,” Kennedy said to Zuckerberg. “The purpose of that user agreement is to cover Facebook’s rear end. It’s not to inform your users about their rights. Now, you know that and I know that.”
The senator then urged the Facebook CEO to “go back home and rewrite it.”
He added, “Tell your $1,200-an-hour lawyers ― no disrespect, they’re good ― but tell them you want them written in English, in non-Swahili, so the average American can understand.”
Folks on Twitter noted Kennedy’s blunt delivery and also called him out for making a disparaging remark about Swahili to get his point across.
Though the questioning was tense, Zuckerberg and Kennedy shook hands following the hearing.