Meta, the parent company of Facebook, will be summoned by a Parliamentary Standing Committee over comments by its chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg on the Indian general election in 2024. BJP MP and Chairman of the House panel on Communication and Information Technology Nishikant Dubey has said the tech giant will be called in for allegedly spreading misinformation.
Dubey added, emphasizing that misinformation runs against the tenet of a democratic society, “Misinformation on a democratic country maligns its image. The organization would have to apologize to Parliament and the people here for this mistake,” in a post on X.
Zuckerberg’s comments, in a podcast on January 10, suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a decline in public trust in governments around the world, mistakenly citing India as an example. He said, “2024 was a very big election year around the world and all these countries, India had elections.
The incumbents basically lost every single one. There is some sort of a global phenomenon-whether it was because of inflation or the economic policies to deal with COVID or just how the governments dealt with COVID.”
To this, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw immediately fact-checked Zuckerberg’s statement and said the Indian electorate reposed their confidence in the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last Lok Sabha elections.
“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. Mr. Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect,” Vaishnaw said on X.
Highlighting the achievements of the Modi government, Vaishnaw pointed to initiatives such as providing free food to 800 million people and administering 2.2 billion vaccines during the pandemic. “PM Modi’s decisive third-term victory is a testament to good governance and public trust. Meta, it’s disappointing to see misinformation from Mr. Zuckerberg himself. Let’s uphold facts and credibility,” he added.
While the ruling BJP won big in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, during the general election last year it fell below the majority mark. Because of some key allies, the NDA was able to cross the required number.
The opposition, led by the Congress party, did manage to secure a gain but failed to get enough seats to shake the Repeat status quo. By doing so, he became the only second Indian leader after Jawaharlal Nehru to become Prime Minister of the country for three consecutive terms.
