WASHINGTON — For 10 days, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has been under increasing pressure from lawmakers and regulators to answer questions about the improper harvesting of data of 50 million Facebook users by a British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.

Now Mr. Zuckerberg plans to go to Washington to explain himself.

The chief executive has agreed to testify in at least one congressional hearing over the social network’s handling of customer data, according to people familiar with the decision. Specifically, he plans to appear next month before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the arrangements were not public. Mr. Zuckerberg may make other appearances; he has also been asked to testify before the Senate and House Judiciary and Commerce Committees.

His appearing on Capitol Hill could create a spectacle that is replayed online and on television for years to come, especially amid a backlash against the power of tech behemoths. Late last year, executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter showed up at congressional hearings to discuss Russian meddling online in the 2016 presidential election, putting faces to the tech platforms during criticism of their misuse.