During Mark Zuckerberg's first day of hearings on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Senator Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, tried to ask the Facebook CEO a question about his state. "Illinois has a Biometric Information Privacy Act, or the state does, which is to regulate the commercial use of facial, voice, finger and iris scans and the like. We're now in a fulsome debate on that. And I'm afraid Facebook has come down to the position of trying to carve out exceptions to that. I hope you'll fill me in on how that is consistent with protecting privacy."

Zuckerberg never had to answer the question because Durbin’s time expired. But the incident highlights how, even as Zuckerberg promised Congress that Facebook would do a better job protecting its users’ privacy, the company has been working to oppose or weaken privacy measures at the state level.

Facebook pours millions of dollars into state and federal lobbying efforts, some of which oppose legislation designed to bolster privacy. The company has contributed to the campaigns of representatives who want to gut the Illinois privacy law referenced by Durbin, and it ponied up $200,000 to oppose a consumer privacy ballot initiative in California. Wednesday, shortly after Zuckerberg finished testifying in Washington, Facebook said it was no longer contributing to the group opposing the California measure.

“I’m sitting here watching Mark Zuckerberg say he’s sorry and that Facebook will do better on privacy, yet literally as he testifies lobbyists paid by Facebook in Illinois and California are working to stop or gut privacy laws,” says Alvaro Bedoya, a professor and the executive director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law School. “If Facebook wants to do better on privacy, it needs to put its money where its mouth is, it needs to stop paying lobbyists to gut critical privacy initiatives in these states."

Facebook's lobbying efforts are part of a wider push among tech corporations including Google, Verizon, and Comcast, which also often oppose consumer privacy legislation. Facebook's business model, like that of other internet platforms, primarily relies on collecting people's personal data and using that information to sell ads. The social network has financial incentives to ensure that state regulations don't hinder its efforts to amass that info. But Zuckerberg himself said on Capitol Hill this week that he is open to new laws regulating his company, meaning the social network's lobbying efforts may soon change.

Weakening a Biometrics Law in Illinois

While Zuckerberg answered questions from Congress Wednesday, state representatives in Illinois were scheduled to attend the first of two hearings about a proposed amendment to the Biometric Information Privacy Act, the law Durbin brought up to Zuckerberg.

The proposed amendment was not discussed in committee during the scheduled hearings this week, but if passed, it would essentially gut the law, which is widely regarded as one of the strongest biometric privacy protections in the country. It's likely the reason for example that Google's widely popular Arts & Culture app, which turns your selfies into art, doesn't work in Illinois.

Passed in 2008, the Illinois law requires that companies ask permission before collecting biometric data, including for facial recognition. It mandates corporations list the purpose and length of time a person's data will be stored, and to include those details in a written biometric privacy policy. The law also allows consumers to sue alleged violators; that’s led to numerous lawsuits, including against Facebook.

Chicago resident Carlo Licata and two others sued the social network in 2015. They said Facebook had enrolled them without their consent in Tag Suggestions, a Facebook feature introduced in 2010 that relies on facial recognition to automatically tag individuals in photos. Snapchat and Google have faced similar lawsuits. Facebook began informing people more explicitly about its facial recognition data collection practices earlier this year, but Licata's case is ongoing, and a trial is set for July.