New Delhi: Shivanth Thukral Vice-President, Public Policy, Meta India has responded to the remarks being made by its founder Mark Zuckerberg on the 2024 General Elections in India.
Thukral’s response came in the wake of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s tweet wherein the minister called Zuckerberg’s claim as 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 Narendra Modi Ji’s leadership. Mr. Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect. 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. Meta, it’s disappointing to see misinformation from Mr. Zuckerberg himself. Let’s uphold facts and credibility,” tweeted Vaishnaw.
Thukral responded saying, “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. India remains an incredibly important country for Meta and we look forward to being at the heart of its innovative future.”
Dear Honourable Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw , 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. India remains an incredibly important country…
— Shivnath Thukral (@shivithukral) January 14, 2025
Earlier, news reports had said that the social media behemoth is set to be summoned by a Parliamentary panel over his remarks
The information was shared by Nishikant Dubey, BJP MP and the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology on X. The BJP MP said that the Parliamentary panel under him will soon serve a notice to the Meta for “spreading misinformation” and seek an apology.
Taking note of Zuckerberg’s objectionable remarks, Nishikant Dubey said, “Misinformation in any democratic country tarnishes its image. The organisation will have to apologise to the Indian Parliament and the people for this mistake.”
Zuckerberg, in a recent podcast, claimed that most of the incumbent governments across the democracies saw the erosion of public trust during the COVID-19 pandemic and this eventually led to their ouster in the 2024 elections.
Mark Zuckerberg speaking to podcaster Joe Rogan, 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 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’s global – not just the US but for many incumbents in other countries,” he said in the podcast.
Zuckerberg’s generalised statement on the 2024 elections invited a quick counter from Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw who termed it “factually incorrect”.
While fact-checking his statements, the Union Minister said that last year’s elections in India were rather a reaffirmation of people’s trust in PM Modi-led NDA for a record third time.
“PM Modi’s decisive 3rd-term victory is a testament to good governance and public trust,” he added.
He also dropped a piece of advice for the Meta and its chief, urging them to uphold the facts and truth.
“Meta, it’s disappointing to see misinformation from Mr. Zuckerberg himself. Let’s uphold facts and credibility,” he wrote.
With IANS Inputs