Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would "love" Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to be grilled by Australian politicians, he said, in the wake of revelations the tech giant allowed Chinese smartphone makers access to user data.
The social media behemoth has drawn renewed criticism after confirming it shared data with Chinese electronics firms, including Huawei which has been banned by the US military over cyber espionage concerns.
Canberra has recently moved to strengthen its own intelligence capability amid growing fears of foreign, particularly Chinese, political interference.
"Certainly there are a lot of concerns about Facebook - about privacy," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.
"I would welcome Facebook coming and testifying before our parliamentary committees. Of course, we'd love to see the boss," he said when asked if Zuckerberg should appear personally."
Social networks had rapidly become "dominant in every respect" of people's lives, the prime minister added, and it was important users were aware of how their data was used.
The deputy chair of Australia's joint intelligence and security committee, Anthony Byrne, said the Facebook boss needed to explain to Australia's 15 million Facebook users why it was sharing their data with Chinese firms.
"It is completely unacceptable that information from Facebook users has been slyly handed over to Huawei by Facebook," he told the Australian newspaper.
"I want to know why Mr Zuckerberg allowed this to happen. If need be, he will be invited to appear before the (committee) in a public hearing to explain himself to our committee and the Australian people."
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg took out full-page ads in nine major British and US newspapers to apologise for a huge data privacy scandal. Source: Supplied
The revelations come weeks after Zuckerberg was grilled in US Congress about the hijacking of personal data on some 87 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working on Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.
Facebook said its contracts with phone makers placed tight limits on what could be done with data, and information obtained by Huawei was not stored on the firm's server.
The social media giant said it was winding up the interface arrangements with device makers and its integration partnership with Huawei would end this week.
Huawei has said that it has never collected or stored any Facebook data and has claimed any national security concerns were unfounded.
Australian politicians react
Liberal frontbencher Zed Seselja said companies must not put profits ahead of protecting its users' data.
"Where companies look to do deals, where they give away personal information, where they sell personal information, obviously they need to be held accountable for that," he told Sky News.
"I think Australians who are using Facebook and other social media would hope that some of their data can be protected, so Facebook has a responsibility to do that."
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the problem is broader than Facebook.
He wants the federal parliament to legislate tougher European-style protections for Australians' data.
"We need laws in this country that make sure that information which is private is kept private," Senator Di Natale told Sky News.
Labor's Jenny McAllister said the data deal raises issues about how Facebook operates, adding the company had been "quite negligent" in describing to consumers what was happening to their data.
