Meta has issued an apology after comments by CEO Mark Zuckerberg about India’s elections led to threats of legal action from Indian lawmakers. During a recent appearance Zuckerberg made on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Facebook founder and Meta CEO suggested most incumbent political parties—including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party—lost power in the elections following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Modi’s government actually bucked the trend and won its election, albeit without an outright majority.
“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,” Meta India’s vice president of public policy, Shivnath Thukral, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in response to criticism from officials in Modi’s government. He continued: “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’s public apology on behalf of Zuckerberg and Meta came in response to an X post by Indian Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who blasted the technology billionaire’s comments on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast as “factually incorrect” and “misinformation.”Additionally, India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, led by Nishikant Dubey, demanded an apology from the social media giant.
India has the most Facebook users of any country on Earth. As of last year, there are over 370 million active Facebook users in India.
India’s government had previously implemented stricter regulations on social media through the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, aiming to control speech online.
