NEW DELHI: Global social media giant Meta on Wednesday apologised to India for company CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s remarks on Lok Sabha elections. The apology came a day after a Parliamentary panel summoned Meta representatives to register protest.
Controversy erupted when Zuckerberg, during an episode of the Joe Rogan Podcast, claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic caused a ‘breakdown and trust in a lot of governments’ and ‘all these countries, India, just like a ton of countries, that had elections and the incumbents, basically lost every single one of them.’
Also read:Parliamentary panel on Zuckerberg’s Indian elections remark
The company said that while the comments made by Zuckerberg were true for several countries they were not true for India.
Shivnath Thakural, who serves as the director for public policy at Meta India, apologised for the CEO’s ‘inadvertent error’, in a post on X. “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,” he said.
“India remains an incredibly important country for Meta and we look forward to being at the heart of its innovative future,” his post further added.
Following the release of the podcast, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw lashed out at the Meta CEO’s remarks, calling them ‘disappointing’ and pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term victory was a ‘testament to good governance and public trust.’
“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,” Vaishnaw said in his post.
Nishikant Dubey, the head of the parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, demanded an apology from Zuckerberg, and said that the committee will ask the company to be present between January 20-24.
“My committee will call Meta for this wrong information. Wrong information in any democratic country tarnishes the image of the country. That organisation will have to apologise to the Indian Parliament and the people here for this mistake,” Dubey wrote in his post.
