Parl panel to call Meta over chief’s poll claim

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology and Communications on Tuesday said it would summon Meta over its chief Mark Zuckerberg’s false statement that the incumbent Indian Government lost the 2024 elections due to “poor” Covid response.

Panel chairman Nishikant Dubey said the social media firm would have to apologise for the incorrect remarks.

“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 Parliament and the people here for this mistake,” Dubey said.

He tagged Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw who had yesterday dismissed Zuckerberg’s remarks that the incumbent government in India had lost national elections following a weak Covid-19 response.

“PM Modi’s decisive third-term victory is a testament to good governance and public trust. @Meta, it’s disappointing to see misinformation from Zuckerberg himself. Let’s uphold facts and credibility,” Vaishnaw had said on X after Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan that most incumbent governments, including India, lost elections in 2024 due to poor Covid response.

Incumbent governments in 20 countries had lost national elections post Covid-19, but India was not among them.

Some countries where governments were voted out post Covid were the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Iran, Brazil, South Korea, South Africa, Indonesia, among others.