Meta, the social media company of Facebook, suddenly becomes a part of political disarray when its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg comments on the Indian elections of 2024 Lok Sabha. In the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Zuckerberg suggested Modi’s government lost the election because of its ‘feeble Covid response’. The comments have been criticised heavily in India and politicians are demanding a probe on the company.
BJP MP and Union Minister Responds
The Indian BJP MP of parliamentary standingcommittee on communications and information technology Nishikant Dubey also opposed the statement by Zuckerberg and sought action against it. People in my committee will approach Meta over such disinformation. Information in any democratic country has the effect of damaging the image of the country in question. That organisation shall owe the Indian Parliament as well as the people here an apology for this blunder,” Dubey said in a tweet where the first word is ‘X’.
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
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also denied the charges by Zuckerberg as baseless and said he is wrong factually. He stressed the need for accounting, especially by such personalities as Zuckerberg. “It is regrettable that we had misinformation from Mr Zuckerberg himself, the owner of the social network. As free speech is a anchoring principle let’s fight the good fight for facts and credibility,” Vaishnaw, a user of Meta’s Facebook.
The Reality of the 2024 Elections
Vaishnaw thus insisted to talk about the 2024 Lok Sabha elections where victory was achieved by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under Mod in very comprehensive manner making Modi for the third time Prime Minister of India. The voter turn out for this election crossed 640 million families and the Union Minister once again reiterated that this result shows the faith people have placed in the Modi Govt.
Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, Digvijaya Singh threatened for dragging IB officer Abhishek Verma in corruption cases Vishal Sikka quits as Infosys CEO; RBI to reconsider ban on multi-bPlayableRBI to reconsider ban on multi- Mr Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments lost post-Covid is factually wrong including India in the 2024 elections Vaishnav said. He said that it was foolish to consider the BJP-led NDA government as an electoral failure when, in fact, the party had secured a clear majority again.
Modi Government’s Pandemic Achievements
Praising the Modi government, Vaishnaw listed several successes India made during the pandemic regarding the Covid-19 response. These included:
- Free food distribution: To feed 800 million people under the Free Food Scheme named as Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana – Free Ration to Everyone Schemes.
- Massive vaccination drive: They launched a campaign of providing 2.2 billion free Covid-19 vaccine doses across the country.
- Global aid: Assisting a few countries during the time of pandemic.
- Economic recovery: Leading India to be the world’s fastest major economy.
“These measures not only served to cushion the impact of the pandemic but they also won citizens’ confidence in the government which helped the NDA secure victory in 2024,” Vaishnaw said.
Political and Public Backlash
Zuckerberg’s remarks have elicited diverse outcries by different parties, with most accusing Meta of peddling information. Believing that freedom of speech has gone too far, the controversy has raised a question on the responsibility of international IT companies concerning people’s opinions and the provision of information on their platforms.
Such statements by Dubey raise the prospects of parliamentary investigation of the involvement of the Meta company in spreading such statements. Zuckerberg expects the Indian political leaders to cut down democracy it calls his statement as a slur on India.
Meta Yet to Respond
However, Meta has not responded to the controversy, neither in relation to the Zuckerberg’s remarks nor in connection with the critical statements by Indian leaders. Which only led to silence from the tech giant that reignited criticism over demands for more responsibility from social media operating in democratic countries.
Potential Concerns For Meta and Global Tech Companies
This controversy focuses on growing pressures on international technology firms regarding their influence over the societies’ political processes. Growing speciously in one of its largest markets-India –Meta is under increasing pressure to be responsible for its communication and properly disseminate facts.
With the parliamentary questioning in the offing, such freedom of expression can have a number of implications for Meta’s functioning and with Indian authorities. With conversations on fake news and the call for accountability rising, this episode highlights the need to call tech companies to order over their role in influencing discourse.
Conclusion
Issue of concern: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg creating ripples over his comments on India’s 2024 elections blur the line between technology behemoths as influential players in society. Meta is now in the firing line as political leaders seek to have answers, and the company must come clear to indicate that it supports honest and fact-driven campaigning.
