Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to face questions from the European parliament – the Facebook founder's second appearance before legislators since the global data scandal engulfed the tech giant.

In a move that is sure to upset UK parliamentarians, Zuckerberg has taken up an invitation to appear in Brussels before a select group of lawmakers and senior EU officials, according to the president of the European parliament Antonio Tajani.



"The founder and CEO of Facebook has accepted our invitation and will be in Brussels as soon as possible, hopefully already next week, to meet the leaders of the political groups and the Chair and the Rapporteur of the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs," Tajani said.

"I welcome Mark Zuckerberg's decision to appear in person before the representatives of 500 million Europeans," the president added.

On Monday, Tajani tweeted to say that Zuckerberg had agreed for the session to be livestreamed after members of the European Parliament had expressed concern about the meeting taking place behind closed doors.