Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has denied his social media platform paved the way for the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, as Silicon Valley executives faced a fresh barrage of criticism over their content moderation failures during a bruising hearing in Congress.

Appearing before a House panel on Thursday via video link alongside Twitter head Jack Dorsey and Google’s chief Sundar Pichai, Zuckerberg rejected suggestions from politicians that Facebook bore responsibility for the riots by allowing misinformation, hate speech and online extremism to flourish on its platform.

“The responsibility here lies with the people who took the actions to break the law and?.?.?.?also the people who spread that content, including the [former] president [Donald Trump], but others as well,” Zuckerberg said.