U.S House committee asks Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to appear before it by January

Facebook’s crypto-project Libra has been battling it out with regulators from around the world, with the ones in the United States being especially vocal about their concerns. In a series of new developments, the U.S. House committee has demanded that the Chief Executive Officer of the social media giant, Mark Zuckerberg, appear before the panel by January, according to reports.

The House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee is seeking the testimony of Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg on October 29. However, this meeting has been put on hold until Zuckerberg commits to appear. Facebook has been in troubled waters ever since it announced its own cryptocurrency in June. Concerned about the impact of Libra, financial watchdogs all over the world have been talking about the possible impact of Facebook’s stablecoin on the global financial system, with some countries such as France and Germany going as far as delibrating a ban on the project.

The Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters, said during a hearing in July,

“Facebook’s plans raise serious privacy, trading, national security, and monetary policy concerns, not only for Facebook’s over 2 billion users, who will have immediate access to these products, but also for consumers, investors and the global economy.”

The Chairwoman had ordered Facebook to put on hold the implementation of Libra until regulators and the Congress have deliberated on the legal framework around it, something David Marcus, Head of Calibra, had diligently accepted. Marcus had said,

“Facebook will not offer the Libra digital currency until we have fully addressed regulatory concerns and received appropriate approvals.”

In order to discourage its 2.8 million-strong user base from getting involved in illicit activities, Libra would require users to register with a government-issued ID to confirm their identity, a step the social media giant hopes will deter criminals from using the digital asset for nefarious purposes.

“The way we are applying [anti-money-laundering] programs as far as the Calibra wallet is concerned, we will have strong identity [protections].”