Canada might hold Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Parliament

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg could be facing a contempt vote in Canada.

Zuckerberg and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg plan to defy summonses from Canada's Parliament and skip a hearing this week on how Silicon Valley impacts privacy and democracy, CNN reports. As a result, Bob Zimmer, the member of the House of Commons who sent Facebook its summonses, told CNN the executives could be held in contempt.

"Nobody is going to come with some handcuffs and arrest them, but to be held in contempt by an entire country would not serve any platform well," he said.

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In place of Zuckerberg and Sandberg, Facebook plans to send its head of public policy for Facebook Canada and its director of public policy to this hearing, which will be attended by lawmakers from at least 10 countries. But that's not good enough for Zimmer, who said that Parliament must hear from Zuckerberg and Sandberg themselves.

"It's not that hard to jump on a plane and make some time to hear from legislators and answer their questions," Zimmer told CNN.

Although Zuckerberg is refusing to attend the meeting in Ottawa, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai will both be there, Gizmodo reports.

Zuckerberg in 2018 testified before Congress in the United States but turned down requests to testify before U.K. Parliament, CNET reports. Facebook said on Monday that it is "committed to working with world leaders, governments, and industry experts" but that "ultimately this is a decision for Parliament — we're not in a position to speculate."