The DCMS committee wrote to Zuckerberg on March 20 after newspaper reports based on interviews with a former employee of UK political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica, revealed the outfit obtained Facebook data on 50 million users.

The committee wanted him to give oral evidence especially as Facebook's policy staff, Simon Milner, previously told the committee the consultancy did not have Facebook data. In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said it will be offering its CTO or chief product officer to answer questions.  We guess Facebook did not want to put Zuckerberg before a UK parliamentary select committee.

Zuckerberg has decided to testify before Congress within a matter of weeks, and Facebook is currently planning the strategy for his testimony. So why not the Brits? It might have something to do with the fact that corporate CEOs have an easier time before Congress select committees as most of the politicians owe them a favour or two.

Damian Collins, Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said:  “Given the extraordinary evidence that we’ve heard so far today... it is absolutely astonishing that Mark Zuckerberg is not prepared to submit himself to questioning. These are questions of a fundamental importance and concern to Facebook users, as well as to our inquiry as well. We would certainly urge him to think again if he has any care for people that use his company’s services.”

So to restore any sense of balance for Zuckerberg refusing to face questions from a democratic government we offer our readers a chance to see him eating toast in rather a strange way and giving Morgan Freeman the worst acting job in his life.