Last night while you were sleeping, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fielded questions from 44 senators in a 5-hour long testimony in the US. Zuckerberg appeared before a joint hearing of Justice and Commerce Committees in the US, answering questions about the data and privacy policies at Facebook. The hearing came after Facebook found itself in the eye of the storm after the Cambridge Analytica scandal last month.

It was a marathon hearing session, although it turned out to be rather easy for Zuckerberg. He wasn’t put under the oath, something that helped him, and the senators who questioned him mostly had no clue about how Facebook or for that matter internet works. Although some of them had pointed questions, Zuckerberg was mostly able to avoid getting into tricky situations. He basically nailed it and emerged smiling after five hours. In between, here is everything important he said.

1.In his prepared remarks Zuckerberg said sorry. “It’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools (Facebook) from being used for harm as well. That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy. We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” Zuckerberg said. “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”

2.The hearing opened by remarks from John Thune, chairman of the Commerce Committee, who said it was time for technology companies to start explaining how they are going to take responsibility for their platforms. “Today’s hearing is extraordinary it is extraordinary to have a single CEO testify in front of almost half of US senators. But then Facebook is extraordinary,” he said. “In the past senators deferred regulation hoping that tech companies will regulate themselves, so we now want to know how Facebook hopes to take responsibility for its platform Facebook is an American dream. We don’t want it turn into a privacy nightmare.”

3.Zuckerberg said that advertisements continue to be the major business model for Facebook. He said even if somehow Facebook comes out with a premium ad-free version, there will always be an ad-supported free version of Facebook.

4.Zuckerberg evaded the questions on how Facebook tracks even those internet users who are not logged in the social media site. This was one of the topics on which Zuckerberg was most hard-pressed to explain Facebook policies.

5.Zuckerberg said that Facebook has made mistakes in the past and has apologised for them, but this time it is difference and people will really see a difference. “There is a philosophical shift. I am now committed to getting it right and people will see a difference,” said the Facebook CEO.

6.The Facebook CEO showed that he really cares about his privacy. During the testimony senator Dick Durbin asked Zuckerberg if he will share the name of the hotel where he stayed last night. Zuckerberg, caught unawares smiled and after a while said “no”. We are guessing that he also did not check-in on Facebook from hotel, like what most Facebook users do.

7.Zuckerberg said that he broadly agrees that there can be some sort of regulation to ensure user privacy but again and again said that the details will have to be worked out.

8.No, Facebook is not listening to your conversations through microphone. It is a hoax, said Zuckerberg. “Senator, let me get clear on this, you’re talking about this conspiracy theory that gets passed around that we listen to what’s going on your microphone and use that for ads,” he said.

9.Zuckerberg struggled to name a Facebook competitor. This was one tough question and very important too. When the senator asking question suggested that because Zuckerberg can’t name even a single competitor, should Facebook be considered a monopoly. “It certainly doesn’t feel like that to me,” replied Zuckerberg.

10.The Facebook CEO, on several occasions, said that he did not know for how long Facebook systems keep the user’s data if the account is deleted. Although he said that once a user deletes an account the data is definitely deleted. The idea is to delete it as quickly as possible, although Zuckerberg said that his team would share the specifics later.

11.Zuckerberg brought in his team again and again. When he wanted to evade a question and felt he did not have enough information about something, he said that his team would follow up on the question later.

The Facebook CEO hinted that the company was formally working with the US government team that is probing Russian meddling in the US elections in 2016.

12.Zuckerberg believes that Facebook can take care of user privacy and data better than a government. And he is probably right. Just see the Aadhaar mess in India.

13.The Facebook CEO again and again brought up the humble beginning of Facebook from the “dorm room”. This was to emphasise that it’s only now Facebook has become big and when it was smaller it didn’t have resources to think of all the privacy and data security features it can think now. So basically, Zuckerberg’s appeal was that forgive the past sins and Facebook will do better now.