Matter 'closed', says IT House panel chief Dubey after Meta apology

Zuckerberg had said that "2024 was the big election year around the world and a lot of countries like India and a tonne of countries that had elections and incumbents basically lost every single one"

After a Meta official publicly apologised on Wednesday for the company’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg’s remarks on the Indian election results, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology (IT) Nishikant Dubey said he now treated the matter as “closed”.

 

Dubey, who is also a member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha, had on Tuesday said that the House panel on IT would summon Meta following Zuckerberg’s comments in a podcast that India's ruling dispensation lost the Lok Sabha election as did several incumbent governments across the world in 2024.

 

In an interaction with podcaster Joe Rogan, published on January 10, Zuckerberg had said that the “reaction” to the handling of Covid-19 “probably caused the breakdown in trust in a lot of governments around the world”. He said that “2024 was the big election year around the world and a lot of countries like India and a tonne of countries that had elections and incumbents basically lost every single one”. He attributed this “global phenomena” to “inflation because of the economic policies to deal with Covid-19 or just how the governments dealt with Covid-19”, not just in the US but across the world. 

 

On January 13, Union Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw had accused Zuckerberg of furthering “misinformation”. "Mr Zuckerberg's claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-Covid is factually incorrect. As the world's largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. People of India reaffirmed their trust in the NDA led by PM Narendra Modi Ji's leadership," Vaishnaw said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). He had also asked Meta to uphold facts and credibility.

 

On Wednesday, in a detailed note, official sources listed 20 incumbent governments that have lost the subsequent national elections post the pandemic years, especially since 2021, suggesting that India was an exception where the incumbent returned. The list included the change in governments in the US, UK, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Columbia, Brazil, Italy, Iran, Germany, and Poland. It also included the case of the African National Congress losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in South Africa’s national elections in 2024.

 

In a post on X on Tuesday, Dubey had said: “My committee will summon Meta for this incorrect information. Incorrect information about any democratic country tarnishes its image. This organisation will have to apologise to the Indian Parliament and the people here for this mistake.”

 

Sources in the committee had said that it will deliberate on the matter and summon Meta executives between January 20 and 24, and that it expected a formal apology from the firm to the Indian Parliament and its citizens. Failure to address these concerns may result in legal recommendations against the company, sources had said.

 

However, on Wednesday morning, Meta India Vice-President and Director for Public Policy Shivnath Thukral apologised for Zuckerberg's remarks and said it was an "inadvertent error". "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," Thukral said.

 

To this, Dubey posted on X: "A Meta India official has finally apologised for the mistake. This is a victory of the common citizens of India.” Dubey said people elected Narendra Modi as Prime Minister for the third consecutive term, which was a testimony to his strong leadership. "Now the responsibility of our committee ends on this issue. We treat this issue closed. However, we will continue to hold these social platforms to account in the future on other issues," Dubey later told the media.

 

In his comments on Monday, Vaishnaw had said: "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.”