Zimmer blamed the social media platform for helping to spread fake news and misinformation – with tragic consequences – and said that it must do more to counter sexism online.

She also criticised the format of the hearing which took place behind closed doors and was only streamed via the internet:

“I wonder why it wasn’t possible to have an open, public meeting in the first place. After all, you speak about transparency and bringing people together for debate as the basic idea of Facebook,” she told Zuckerberg.

• Gabi Zimmer – Brexit
• Malin Björk – Gender equality in EU trade agreements
• João Ferreira – EU-Comoros fisheries agreement
• Ángela Vallina – EU regions’ role in implementing COP21
• Liadh Ní Riada – The EU’s long-term budget
• Younous Omarjee – The EU’s long-term budget
• Matt Carthy – Common Corporate Tax Base
• Martin Schirdewan – Common Corporate Tax Base

The German MEP also criticised Zuckerberg for leaving 1.5 billion Facebook users out of reach of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into effect on 25th May.