Advocacy group floods Capitol lawn with Zuckerberg cutouts ahead of hearing

An advocacy group on Tuesday filled the lawn in front of the Capitol building with cutouts of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to protest the tech leader ahead of his congressional testimony. 

Avaaz, which identifies itself as a global advocacy group focusing on national and regional issues, placed 100 cutouts of Zuckerberg on the lawn that depict him with a shirt that reads “fix fakebook.”

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“The group is calling on the CEO to ban all bots, alert the public any and every time users see fake or disinformation, fund fact checkers around the world, and submit to an independent audit to review the scale and scope of fake news,” the organization said in a press release. 

#NOW in front of the #Capitol: A fake #Zuckerberg army marches on the Capitol Lawn. Come by, if you’re in the area. We’re here for a bit longer. Media advisory here: https://t.co/hbraKSOgO5 #Facebook #FixFacebook pic.twitter.com/JzcjP14GOX

— Avaaz (@Avaaz) April 10, 2018

Zuckerberg is set to testify Tuesday afternoon before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees. He will testify Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

He is facing growing pressure from lawmakers after it was revealed that British data firm Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained data from an estimated 87 million Facebook users. 

The company previously faced scrutiny for the spread of Russian-backed ads and propaganda leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Facebook’s general counsel testified to Congress over that issue.