'Inadvertent error...' Meta issues apology for Mark Zuckerberg's remark on 2024 election
Meta India's Vice President, Shivanand Thukral, issued an apology following a controversy over Mark Zuckerberg's incorrect remark about the erosion of trust in the Indian government during the Covid pandemic.
FollowAmidst the controversy surrounding Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's comments on the 2024 general election, an India representative from the social media giant issued an apology today, citing it as an 'inadvertent error'.
In response to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's post-fact-checking Mark Zuckerberg's statement about the 2024 elections worldwide, Shivanand Thukral, Meta India's Vice-President (Public Policy), stated, "Dear Honourable Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, 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."
The apology follows BJP MP Nishikant Dubey's statement, issued a day earlier, in which he announced that Meta would be summoned before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communication and Information Technology, citing allegations of spreading misinformation related to Zuckerberg's remark.
"Misinformation on a democratic country maligns its image. The organisation would have to apologise to the Parliament and the people here for this mistake," Dubey said in a post on X.
During a podcast on January 10, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, 40, remarked that the Covid-19 pandemic had caused a decline in trust in incumbent governments worldwide. However, he mistakenly referenced India as an example in this context.
"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. It seems to have had this effect that's global," he said.
Shortly afterward, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw countered Zuckerberg's statement, pointing out that the people of India had reaffirmed their trust in the NDA government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the Lok Sabha elections held last year.
"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, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect," Vaishnaw said.
Meta's Mark Zuckerberg to face Parliamentary summons over misinformation on General Elections 2024
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