Inadvertent error: Meta India apologises for CEO Zuckerberg's remarks on India elections

New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) Meta India on Wednesday apologised for CEO Mark Zuckerberg's remarks that the incumbent government in India lost power in the 2024 elections due to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and termed it an "inadvertent error".

The apology came within days of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw slamming remarks made by Zuckerberg as "misinformation", and asserting that Meta must uphold facts and credibility.

On Tuesday, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the Parliament's Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, made it clear that the panel will summon Meta over Zuckerberg's comments.

Meta India's Vice President Shivnath Thukral took to X on Wednesday to tender an apology on behalf of the company.

"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 for @Meta and we look forward to being at the heart of its innovative future," he wrote.

Vaishnaw, earlier this week, had called out the remarks made by Zuckerberg on the Joe Rogan podcast.

"Mr Zuckerberg's claim that most incumbent governments, including India, in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect," Vaishnaw had said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on January 13.

"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," said Vaishnaw, who is Minister for Information and Broadcasting as well as IT.

The minister had expressed disappointment at Zuckerberg's remarks and had debunked the statement by the Meta honcho as "misinformation".

"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," Vaishnaw had said.

Meanwhile, Dubey on Wednesday said he treated the matter of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s remarks on Indian elections as "closed" after an official of the social networking platform tendered the apology.

"A Meta India official has finally apologised for the mistake. This is a victory of the common citizens of India," Dubey said in a post on X.

Zuckerberg had triggered a row by claiming in the podcast interview that the Indian government lost the election in 2024 due to its weak COVID-19 response.

He had said that 2024 was the big election year around the world and that in a lot of countries like India, the incumbents lost the polls.

"There is some sort of global phenomena, whether it was inflation because of the economic policies to deal with Covid or just how the governments dealt with Covid, seems to have 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," the Facebook founder had said. PTI MBI MBI BAL BAL

Source: PTI