[merouan]

I think you're misunderstanding the intent: obviously they are aware of that. Hearings commonly involve asking basic questions

[fbonetti]

I know that was probably the intent, but the senator sounded genuinely confused. It didn't sound like a deposition-style question.

[komali2]

I see so many lawyers adopt this same tone. Something about crafting a narrative or something - maybe to get the interviewee to be a little more open than they normally would because they underestimate the knowledge of their interviewer, or just to make the interviewee make the mistake of thinking the interviewer is generally ignorant/stupid.

[kzrdude]

Zuck actually deflected that one well, and didn't have to elaborate unfortunately (or the Senator was ill prepared). There's a lot more to facebook ads than just "we show ads". To which degree do they sell out users' info to the advertisers?

[drchiu]

Agreed. I’ve been involved in a few of these regulator type of questioning and they all speak the same way. It has the effect of making the (obvious) answer seem criminal. People in real life don’t talk that way because it can come across as rude.

[edaemon]

That senator, Orrin Hatch (R-UT), is 84 years old. He may be genuinely unaware of how sites like Facebook make money, though his expression after Zuckerberg answered seemed like he was entirely aware of how basic the question/answer was.

[tomc1985]

If the guy is smart I'm pretty sure it's an act. Most legal professionals seem to have their emotions on lock