Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rejects request to testify in front of seven countries’ lawmakers — but a lower-level official will appear

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has declined to testify at a rare joint hearing with lawmakers from seven countries, representing more than 368 million people. Instead, Facebook will dispatch Richard Allan, the company’s vice president of policy solutions, to answer questions at a Nov 27 hearing featuring top policymakers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Latvia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It’s uncommon for seven countries to band together and seek to question a chief executive, reflecting the heightened threat of regulation and other punishments now facing Facebook and its peers in Silicon Valley.