Mark Zuckerberg Spars with Sen. Ted Cruz During Facebook Data Breach Grilling

Mark Zuckerberg got an intense, lengthy grilling Tuesday from dozens of senators, and none was more demanding -- and political -- than Sen. Ted Cruz.

Most senators asked Zuck about privacy and data-related issues, but Sen. Cruz decided to hammer the CEO over the alleged censorship of conservative-themed FB pages. At one point, Cruz asked if the honcho's company took note of its employees' political views, to which Zuckerberg said no.

But, then Cruz asked about a specific employee getting fired -- presumably because he leaned right. Zuckerberg refused to elaborate, but safe to say Cruz got under the Harvard dropout's skin.

MZ will be back Wednesday for round 2 on Capitol Hill.

BTW ... Zuck had a pretty thick cushion under his butt during more than 4 hours of testifying. Maybe he needed the extra comfort, or maybe -- at 5'7" -- he just needed a boost.