MARK Zuckerberg smirked as he was grilled over Facebook’s plans for a cryptocurrency – with one lawmaker saying: “Perhaps you believe you are above the law?”

The Facebook chief was interrogated for six hours on Wednesday about Libra cryptocurrency – dubbed 'Zuck Bucks' – which experts warn "will help terrorists and drug dealers".

8 Mark Zuckerberg smirked as he was grilled over Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans

8 Zuckerberg was interrogated by Democratic Chairwoman Maxine Waters (shown together) Credit: Reuters

Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other representatives also roasted Zuckerberg over political ads, hate speech and Facebook’s privacy scandals over the past two years.

The House Financial Services Committee's immediate focus was dissecting Facebook's plans for a rival to Bitcoin.

Zuckerberg endured hours of prickly questioning, but it was Democratic Chairwoman Maxine Waters who landed the biggest blow.

Rep Waters accused the Facebook CEO of “aggressively” increasing the size of the company and “stepping over anyone and the US democracy to get what you want”.

She told the hearing: “2.7 billion people use your product, that’s over a third of the world’s population. That’s huge.

“That’s so big that it’s clear to me that…perhaps you believe you’re above the law.”

After this scathing comment, Zuckerberg appeared to crack a smile.

Rep Waters continued, saying the Libra project "raises many concerns relating to privacy, trading risks, discrimination ... national security, monetary policy and the stability of the global financial system."

She told Zuckerberg: "You have opened up a discussion about whether Facebook should be broken up."

8 Zuckerberg appeared to crack a smile in the tense questioning

8 Mark Zuckerberg appeared before US lawmakers to defend his company's practices Credit: AFP or licensors

8 The 35-year-old Silicon Valley titan came under fire for his 'Zuck Bucks' currency Credit: EPA

8 The billionaire told lawmakers that he would be tackling major problems around election meddling and "deepfake" videos Credit: AFP or licensors

Mark Zuckerberg told ‘Zuck Bucks’ will help terrorists and drug lords – and warns he won’t ban deadly Facebook fake news

During the session, Rep Waters also complained that the Harvard drop-out had failed to improve diversity at Facebook.

She said Zuckerberg had created "a platform to lie and mislead" to help Facebook sell more ads.

"Your claim to promote freedom of speech does not ring true Mr Zuckerberg," she said.

Facebook is under huge pressure to rein in the spread of fake news as the 2020 US Presidential election approaches.

But Zuckerberg told lawmakers that he wouldn't stop users posting fake news and potentially deadly health misinformation on Facebook.

One of Zuckerberg's greatest challenges right now is the launch of Libra, a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.

It has been heavily criticised by experts and politicians who fear it may be used by criminals for money laundering.

There is also growing concern that the scale of Libra could affect the global financial system.

This panic has caused key Libra partners to ditch Zuckerberg's project, including Mastercard, Visa, eBay and PayPal.

8 Zuckerberg said he won't stop users posting fake news – but will try to limit its spread Credit: AFP or licensors

Mark Zuckerberg's opening statement revealed Here's a key passage from the opening statement... "This has been a challenging few years for Facebook.

"We understand we have a lot to do to live up to people's expectations on issues like privacy and security.

"We know that companies like Facebook have become a part of people's everyday lives.

"And that comes with immense responsibilities and a lot of very difficult judgments.

"We don't think we should be tackling these issues alone.

"Which is why I've called for a more active role for governments and regulators on harmful content, protecting elections, privacy, and data portability."

Zuckerberg attempted to reassure key US political figures that Libra will be an above-board project that won't damage the US or global economies.

"Facebook will not be a part of launching the Libra payments system anywhere in the world unless all US regulators approve it," Zuckerberg said.

"And we support Libra delaying its launch until it has fully addressed US regulatory concerns."

But he came under fire from US politicians during Wednesday's Capitol Hill testimony.

"You're going to be making powerful burglary tools, and letting your business partners commit the burglary," said Brad Sherman, a representative of the House from California.

"You're going to create it – that's why I call it the ZuckBuck – and then you're going to say 'oh it's our business partners' [when crimes are committed]," he added.

"You will not be able to hide behind the idea that you didn't create the Libra organisation. That it's just your business partners who have wallets designed for drug dealers or terrorists.

"You're going to help drug dealers, terrorists and tax evaders."

8 Zuckerberg was told that his cryptocurrency would help "terrorists and drug dealers" Credit: Reuters

But Zuckerberg argued that Facebook's involvement in Libra would be a good thing.

"We build some of the most widely used messaging systems around the world, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

"The vision here is to make it possible for people around the world to send money as cheaply and as easy as sending a text message."

Facebook has already faced heavy criticism over Libra from US President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump's view on Libra Here's what you need to know... In a series of tweets sent in July, Trump poured scorn on Libra and other similar virtual coins.

"I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air," Trump wrote.

"Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behaviour, including drug trade and other illegal activity.

"Similarly, Facebook Libra's 'virtual currency' will have little standing or dependability."

"If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new banking charter and become subject to all banking regulations, just like other banks, both national and international.

Trump went on: "We have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable.

"It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the world, and it will always stay that way. it is called the United States Dollar."

The 35-year-old billionaire is also having to defend fake news and political meddling on Facebook.

Tensions are high as the US elections approach, especially given the suspected scale of abuse seen in the previous election and during the UK's Brexit vote.

"We do care deeply about giving people a voice and freedom of expression," said Zuckerberg, responding to anger over fake news on Facebook.

"We also hear consistently from our community that people want us to stop spread of misinformation.

"We try to focus on the misinformation that has the potential to lead to physical harm or imminent harm, especially misleading health advice."

Zuckerberg continued: "We don't stop people posting on their page something that is wrong.

"If someone wants to discuss vaccine content, we don't stop them from doing that.

"But we don't go out of way to make sure group recommendations show people those groups.

"For example if someone is typing into the search box something that might lead to anti-vax content, we don't recommend anti-vax searches to them.

"If you type in the name of the group exactly, you can find it. We're not going to hide it. But we go out of our way to not show that content."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defends not censoring Donald Trump

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In other news, Facebook was recently slammed for paying £28million in UK tax after £1.6billion of British earnings.

A huge Facebook leak recently revealed the phone numbers of 400million users – including 18million Brits.

And Facebook is now hiding likes for some users.

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