Parliamentary Panel To Summon Meta Over Zuckerberg's India Poll Remark
Meta will be summoned between January 20 and January 24.
The Parliamentary committee will summon Meta over its CEO Mark Zuckerberg's remarks regarding the outcome of India's 2024 general elections, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said on Tuesday. "Zuckerberg's statement about India is wrong. It is anti-India," added Dubey, who is also the chairperson of the committee on communications and information technology.
Meta will be summoned between January 20 and January 24. "The people of Meta will have to apologise, otherwise we will take whatever action is required. All kinds of nonsense is discussed on social media," Dubey wrote in a post on X.
In a recent podcast, Zuckerberg incorrectly cited India's example while talking about recent election losses around the world. 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."
मेरी कमिटि इस ग़लत जानकारी के लिए @Meta को बुलाएगी । किसी भी लोकतांत्रिक देश की ग़लत जानकारी देश की छवि को धूमिल करती है । इस गलती के लिए भारतीय संसद से तथा यहाँ की जनता से उस संस्था को माफ़ी माँगनी पड़ेगी https://t.co/HulRl1LF4z
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) January 14, 2025
Ashwini Vaishnaw Fact-Checks Zuckerberg
This comes a day after Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw fact-checked Zuckerberg's statement. "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 Narendra Modi's leadership. Mr. Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect," he wrote on X.
The minister added, "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," he had written.