Investors Cheer Facebook, Tech Stocks Amid Zuckerberg Testimony

Tech stocks rallied Tuesday as Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before U.S. Senate members regarding the recent data scandal and consumer privacy policies.

What Zuckerberg Said

Zuckerberg confessed Facebook had not taken “a broad enough view” of its responsibility related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and it reacted too slowly to Russian election interference.

He also committed to a “philosophical shift” in understanding corporate responsibility and to taking a proactive role in ensuring Facebook tools are used for good. Immediate changes include identity verification of all page managers and political or issue advertisers, as well as a ban of apps found to be acting improperly.

At the same time, the company is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller on his investigation into election manipulation.

"I believe deeply in what we're doing. And when we address these challenges, I know we'll look back and view helping people connect and giving more people a voice as a positive force in the world," Zuckerberg said.

The hearing was ongoing at time of publication.

Stock Moves

Facebook's stock ended up having its best day in two years. Here a look at how other stocks moved during the hearing, which started at 2 p.m. ET:

• Facebook closed up 4.1 percent at $165.05;
• Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) closed up 5.4 percent at $29.53;
• Snap Inc (NYSE: SNAP) closed up 2.2 percent at $14.48;
• Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL) closed up 1.6 percent at $1,036.50;
• Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) closed up 2.8 percent at $298; and
• Glb X FUNDS/GLB X SOCIAL MEDIA (NASDAQ: SOCL) closed up 2 percent at $34.13.

TWTR Price data by YCharts

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