Demanding an apology from Meta, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, said on Tuesday that the panel will summon the tech giant for spreading “wrong information”. This is after its CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly remarked that the incumbent government in India lost the last general elections over its mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Quoting a post by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dubey said on X that Meta would have to “apologise to the Indian Parliament”.
“Wrong information in any democratic country tarnishes the image of the country,” he posted in Hindi.
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
According to Hindustan Times, Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan that “the reaction to Covid probably caused a breakdown in trust in a lot of governments around the world”.
“I mean 2024 was a big election year around the world and all these countries, India, just like a ton of countries that had elections and the incumbents basically lost every single one,” he said.
Vaishnaw on Monday said Zuckerberg was “factually incorrect” and that Narendra 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.
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 13, 2025
Mr. Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections,…
Triggering alarm bells across the fact-checking community, Zuckerberg had recently announced that starting from the US, Meta would end its third-party fact-checking programme and replace it with community notes.
Meanwhile, an investigation last year found that dubious networks on Facebook are spending crores to promote pro-BJP narratives and anti-opposition theories, leveraging the reach and targeting capabilities of Meta’s advertising platform. Read the story on Newslaundry.
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