Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg faces contempt vote if he ignores Canadian subpoena, MP says

Both executives received formal requests from the Canadian Parliament earlier this month tied to a gathering of an international committee examining Silicon Valley's impact on privacy and democracy.

Facebook has not yet publicly said if Zuckerberg and Sandberg will attend. Both have testified before the United States Congress on the subject.

Lawmakers from at least ten countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, are expected to attend the meeting, which is the second of its kind. The first meeting of the committee last year in London resulted in the release of secret internal Facebook documents.

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"Collectively we represent about 450 million people, it's a bigger population group than the US," Bob Zimmer MP, the chair of the Canadian parliamentary committee hosting the international meeting, told CNN on Monday.

Zimmer sent both executives summonses earlier this month. He said the company had submitted alternate names of people to attend but that he wants to hear directly from the social network's top two executives.

"It's not that hard to jump on a plane and make some time to hear from legislators and answer their questions," he told CNN.

The decision to hold them in contempt, Zimmer said, would be voted on by the whole of Parliament.

"Nobody is going to come with some handcuffs and arrest them, but to be held in contempt by an entire country would not serve any platform well," he added.

A Facebook (FB) spokesperson said in a statement Monday: "Ultimately this is a decision for Parliament - we're not in a position to speculate. We share the Committee's desire to keep people safe and to hold companies like ours accountable. Right now we're focused on engaging in meaningful dialogue with the committee and look forward to answering their questions."

"We look forward to answering their questions and remain committed to working with world leaders, governments, and industry experts to address these complex issues," the spokesperson said.

CNN's Paula Newton contributed to this report.

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