A day after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statement went viral, in which he claimed that the incumbent government in India lost the 2024 elections due to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the vice president of Meta apologized to Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and called the statement an “error.”
“Mark’s observation that many incumbent parties were not re-elected in 2024 elections holds true for several countries, BUT not India. We would like to apologise for this inadvertent error,” Meta India’s vice president Shivnath Thukral wrote in a post on X on Tuesday, January 14.
Notably, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the parliamentary committee on communications and information technology said Meta Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg will be summoned for his statement that the incumbent government in India lost the 2024 election due to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“My committee will summon Meta for this misinformation. Incorrect information tarnishes the image of any democratic country,” Dubey wrote on X. “The organization will have to apologize to the Indian Parliament and the people of this country for this mistake,” he added
भारतीय संसद व सरकार को 140 करोड़ लोगों का आशीर्वाद व जन विश्वास प्राप्त है।@Meta भारत के अधिकारी ने आख़िर अपनी ग़लतियों के लिए क्षमा माँगी है ।यह जीत भारत के आम नागरिकों की है,माननीय प्रधानमंत्री मोदी जी @narendramodi को जनता ने तीसरी बार प्रधानमंत्री बना कर दुनिया के सामने देश… https://t.co/mePVv3v7Bg
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) January 15, 2025
In his appearance in a podcast, Mark Zuckerberg explained that after COVID, public trust in government information eroded, leading to losses for incumbent governments in the 2024 elections. “It’s not just the US. I think a lot of the people in the US focus on this as a kind of an American phenomenon, but I kind of think that the reaction to Covid probably caused a breakdown in trust in a lot of governments around the world. I mean, 2024 was a big election year around the world and all these countries, India, just like a ton of countries that had elections, and the incumbents basically lost every single one,” said Zuckerberg,
Adding that “There is some sort of a global phenomenon where whether it was because of inflation, because of the economic policies to deal with Covid, or just how the governments dealt with Covid, it seems to have had this effect that is global, not just the US, but like a very broad decrease in trust, at least in that set of incumbents and maybe in sort of these democratic institutions overall.”
On Monday, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took to Twitter and said it was disappointing to see the billionaire spreading misinformation. “As the world’s largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. The people of India reaffirmed their trust in the NDA led by PM @narendramodi Ji’s leadership. Mr. Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in the 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect.
As the world’s largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. People of India reaffirmed their trust in NDA led by PM @narendramodi Ji’s leadership.
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 13, 2025
Mr. Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections,…
From free food for 800 million, 2.2 billion free vaccines, and aid to nations worldwide during COVID, to leading India as the fastest-growing major economy, PM Modi’s decisive 3rd-term victory is a testament to good governance and public trust,” he said on X, adding “@Meta, it’s disappointing to see misinformation from Mr. Zuckerberg himself. Let’s uphold facts and credibility.”
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