'Facebook needs to do more to stop hate speech in Myanmar,' says Zuckerberg to US lawmakers

Embattled Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg faced a US congressional committee over data leak to Cambridge Analytica on Tuesday.

The Facebook chief while apologising for the leak said his company will work harder to block hate messages on the social media site, calling the Myanmar situation a "terrible tragedy".

"What's happening in Myanmar is a terrible tragedy, and we need to do more," Zuckerberg said during a 5-hour joint hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee.

Several thousand Rohingyas have fled Myanmar, according to the UN at least 650, 5000 ethnic Rohingyas have crossed over to Bangladesh in order to save themselves from the Myanmar Army which has allegedly been carrying out mass persecution against them.

"It has ... substantively contributed to the level of acrimony and dissension and conflict ... within the public. Hate speech is certainly, of course, a part of that," the Facebook chief said, adding," As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook, and Facebook is social media."

The UN including the US has termed the deteriorating state of the Rohingyas in Myanmar a case of "ethnic cleansing" with several other nations openly condemning the military regime which has been unable to stop the exodus to Bangladesh with the Rohingyas fearing mass persecution in the country.

"It's hard to do it without people who speak the local language, and we need to ramp up our effort there dramatically," Zuckerberg said.

He said a Facebook team would also make undisclosed product changes in Myanmar and other countries where ethnic violence was a problem.