On Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally appeared before Congress to discuss the social media platform’s recent scandals. But while talk on Capitol Hill largely concerned the platform’s impact on recent elections, “fake news,” and the Cambridge Analytica data leak, online chit chat focused on more prosaic issues — like Zuckerberg’s anxious appearance, and general lack of tech knowledge by presiding legislators.
The memes started from the get-go as Zuckerberg made his opening remarks, in which he apologized and said “It will take some time to work through all the changes but I’m committed to getting this right.” While s a few people commented on his remarks, it seems that far more noted that the CEO, 33, appeared much paler than usual, a condition attributed to everything from nervousness, to karma, to resemblance to a nerd culture icon.
Quite a few people agreed that Zuckerberg reminded them of Lt. Commander Data, science officer of the Enterprise on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
https://twitter.com/Jared_T_Swift/status/983797705255391232
All this talk of "data" can't be a coincidence… pic.twitter.com/LU9p087k3E
— Guy Cimbalo (@gvcimbalo) April 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/MatthewTeague/status/983788401190211584
https://twitter.com/ChuckReynolds/status/983797403697336320
Though it wouldn’t be a “Star Trek” party without an appearance from fans of “Deep Space Nine,” who countered that Zuckerberg looked more like the shape-shifting changelings from the “Next Generation” spinoff series.
https://twitter.com/trekonomics/status/983771097286852610
https://twitter.com/trekonomics/status/983780055070339072
https://twitter.com/AWolfeful/status/983780975225192448
Meanwhile, here’s what non-nerds had to say:
Find someone who looks at you the way Zuck looks at the inside of his eyelids: alarmingly often. #ZuckerbergTestimony pic.twitter.com/eGgK33adXn
— Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (@FullFrontalSamB) April 10, 2018
adore my incredible dad who loves his family so much that he got eye enlargement surgery so he can look at us more pic.twitter.com/EAnILTmib2
— Patricia Lockwood (@TriciaLockwood) April 10, 2018
That face when you just wanted a faster way to rank girls by looks and ended up installing a fascist government in the most powerful country on earth pic.twitter.com/VEaQjz9Z6s
— Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) April 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/lpbradley/status/983782384192638977
"I've made a huge mistake." #Zuckerberg pic.twitter.com/UqXWAs8lnw
— Christina Warren (@film_girl) April 10, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg is a cylon. There are many copies. And they have a plan.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) April 10, 2018
“You’re in a desert. Walking along in the sand”
“Is this the test now”
“Yes, you’re in a desert walking along the sand when all of a sudden you see a tortoise”
“What’s a tortoise?” pic.twitter.com/WBZaKt0MV4— TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) April 10, 2018
Of course, here’s context for Zuckerberg’s apparent nervousness.
https://twitter.com/kashanacauley/status/983781026551029761
Meanwhile, some users couldn’t help but think of Facebook’s vanquished competition:
“Who is your biggest competitor?”
“It’s hard to say who our-”
“Who is your biggest competitor?”
*distant look*
“The sound of birds in the Spring. Hints perfume of a loved one in a crowd, although you know she is gone. The rose that is the blossom of unexpected love. Also Twitter pic.twitter.com/A7nJXRdfVO— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) April 10, 2018
“Well you can always use myspace” is what Mark Zuckerberg should say and walk out #Zuckerberg
— doug (@dougdietzcomedy) April 10, 2018
tfw you aren't being grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee pic.twitter.com/0gbOmDtJq8
— Jeffrey Young (@JeffYoung) April 10, 2018
Not that the Senate was off the hook, nor its members’ apparent lack of tech savviness:
Mark Zuckerberg prepared for this hearing by meeting with a team of experts (including a former special assistant to a U.S. president), and it is not clear to me from this hearing that many of these lawmakers also prepared to the same extent.
— Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) April 10, 2018
“Mr. Zuckerberg, a magazine i recently opened came with a floppy disk offering me 30 free hours of something called America On-Line. Is that the same as Facebook?” pic.twitter.com/U7pqpUhEhQ
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 10, 2018
There should have been a pretest for senators to get into this hearing https://t.co/Cg4JWtHkGS
— Nik DeCosta-Klipa (@NikDeCostaKlipa) April 10, 2018
Sen. Hatch: "If [a version of Facebook will always be free], how do you sustain a business model in which users don't pay for your service?"
Mark Zuckerberg: "Senator, we run ads." https://t.co/CbFO899XlU pic.twitter.com/bGKWks7zIk— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 10, 2018