LONDON (AP) — The U.K. parliament's media committee has criticized Facebook's response to allegations that data from millions of accounts was misused during elections in the United States and Britain as they grilled one of the company's senior executives about the scandal.

Committee members didn't hide their frustration with Facebook chief technical officer Mike Schroepfer during questioning Thursday. Chairman Damian Collins said the panel was unhappy that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn't appear — even though he testified before U.S. lawmakers.

In some of the most pointed questioning, lawmaker Julian Knight accused Facebook of "bullying journalists, threatening academic institutions and impeding investigations by legal authorities," before declaring the company to be "a morality-free zone."

Schroepfer said he "respectfully disagreed" with such characterizations.