Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked about something he’d probably like people to forget during his testimony on Wednesday in front of Congress: FaceMash.
Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo) brought up the website, which asked people to vote on the attractiveness of students at Harvard University, so Zuckeberg had to discuss the website he created in the early 2000s under oath in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
He even took a swipe at The Social Network, a movie that dramatized the creation of Facebook.
Here’s how the exchange between Facebook’s founder and Long, who genuinely didn’t seem to know the history of FaceMash, went:
“What was FaceMash and is it still up and running?” Long asked.
“No, congressman, FaceMash was a prank website that I launched in college, in my dorm room, before I started Facebook,” Zuckerberg said, slightly smirking. “There was a movie about this, or it said it was about this—it was of unclear truth—and the claim that FaceMash was somehow connected to the development of Facebook–it isn’t, it wasn’t.”
“Just coincidental? The timing was the same, right? Just coincidental?” Long jumped in.
“It was in 2003… I took it down… it actually has nothing to do with Facebook,” he responded.
“You put up pictures of two women and decide which one was the better, more attractive of the two, is that right?” Long asked.
After a beat, Zuckerberg continued:
“Congressman, that is an accurate description of the prank website that I made when I was a sophomore in college.”
.@USRepLong: “What was FaceMash and is it still up and running?”
— Dan Linden (@DanLinden) April 11, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg: “No Congressman, FaceMash was a prank website that I launched in college, in my dorm room, before I started Facebook.” pic.twitter.com/W1KK99ljrF
Long responded by saying Zuckerberg had come “a long way” from FaceMash.
The internet clearly enjoyed the fact that FaceMash was brought up during a congressional hearing.
“What was FaceMash and is it still up and running?” pic.twitter.com/q9URr7qrcO
— jonathan eugster (@JonathanEugster) April 11, 2018
Is FaceMash still up? congressman asks for a friend probably.
— Sam Ro 📈 (@SamRo) April 11, 2018
I don’t think Zuck would have imagined back in 2004 that Facemash would be trending as one of the top 5 topics on twitter.
— dixon.min.js (@DixonMinnick) April 11, 2018
https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/984117079522635776
https://twitter.com/TVietor08/status/984120883110281217
Zuckerberg yesterday: constantly bringing up Facebook’s beginnings
— 🇺🇸D Mo🇺🇸 FUCK CHINA, Trump, Biden & Harris (@D_Mo2020) April 11, 2018
Zuckerberg today after being asked about facemash: pic.twitter.com/xSVNK0P1ua
No lawmaker has yet to ask Zuckerberg about “poking” people on Facebook.
