Lawmakers want Facebook's help providing rural broadband

Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Capitol Hill to talk about data privacy. But several lawmakers from rural parts of the country used the opportunity to ask the Facebook CEO to help bring high-speed internet access to their rural constituents. Facebook has rolled out several initiatives to bring low-cost and free broadband to hard to reach areas of the world, such as India and Africa. Now US lawmakers say they'd like to talk to Zuckerberg about focusing those efforts closer to home. "Next time you visit [West Virgnia], if you would please bring some fiber, because we don't have connectivity in our rural areas like we really need, and Facebook could really help us with that," said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).  Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said he'd also like to talk to Zuckerberg about bringing high-speed connectivity to parts of his state. "My district is very similar to West Virginia as it borders it," he said. "We have a lot of rural areas. Can you also agree, yes or no, to update me on that when the information is available?" Zuckerberg said he would. And he explained some of the initiatives the company has been working on.