Parliamentary panel to summon Zuckerberg over remarks on Indian elections

A Parliamentary panel will summon Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, over his remarks on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Parliamentary standing committee on communication and information technology chairman Nishikant Dubey’s statement came on Tuesday after Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw fact-checked Zuckerberg, who said incumbent governments, including in India, lost elections last year because of their handling of the covid-19 pandemic.

“My committee will call @Meta for this wrong information. Wrong information in any democratic country tarnishes the image of the country. It will have to apologize to the Indian Parliament and its people for this mistake,” Dubey said on X, tagging Vaishnaw’s post.

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

A day earlier, Vaishnaw took to social media to hit out at Zuckerberg, saying, “It is disappointing to see misinformation from Zuckerberg himself. Let’s uphold facts and credibility. 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.”

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,…

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 13, 2025

Vaishnaw’s statement prompted Meta to apologize for Zuckerberg’s comments.

Replying to the minister’s post, Meta vice-president of public policy, Shivnath Thukral said Zuckerberg’s remarks were “inadvertent error” and that India was an “incredibly important country” for Meta.

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

What were Mark Zuckerberg’s comments?

In an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast last week, Zuckerberg claimed that 2024 saw elections across several countries and “every single one” of the incumbents lost the polls.

“A lot of people in the US focus on this as an American phenomenon, but I kind of think that the reaction to Covid probably caused a breakdown and trust in a lot of governments around the world because 2024 was a big election year around the world. And you know there are all these countries, India, just like a ton of countries that had elections, and the incumbents basically lost every single one of them [sic],” Zuckerberg said.