Big trouble for Meta after Mark Zuckerberg's claim on India elections, to face...

Seeking an apology from social media giant Meta for "tarnishing" India's image, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the Parliament's Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, said on Tuesday that the panel will summon the firm following its chairman's comments that India's ruling dispensation lost the Lok Sabha election last year.  

Speaking to ANI, Nishikant Dubey called Zuckerberg's statement “alarming.” He said such a statement shows that Zuckerberg is interfering in India's democracy. BJP MP said, “The owner of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg has given a statement and shown that after COVID-19, an atmosphere was there against the government where he has also mentioned India. India is vibrant democracy. It is a country of 140 million people. After independence, there is the second such government, which has been elected by the people for the third time. Last time, we were 303. Even today, it is 298-199, NDA is nearly 300. This statement by Mark Zuckerberg is alarming because there is atmosphere going on all over the world about social media platforms, they make non-sense statements about women, children.” 

“Australia has denied access to social media platforms for children under the age of 18 years. The second one, polity, which is politics, which is social life, it affects. These kinds of things are going on all over the world, especially after artificial intelligence, these things have become even more effective. This kind of statement shows that he is interfering with India's democracy and is misleading the world by giving wrong information that BJP-NDA has lost. India's parliament represents 140 crore people, and 140 crore people elected PM Modi as the PM for the third time or any if there was any other PM, he did not show the result in a correct manner. So, we have decided that we will summon the people of Meta. They will have to apologise or else action, including law, will be recommended by our committee,” he added.  

On how much time will be given to Meta for response, Dubey responded, “Our committee will be on a visit to Andaman and Nicobar Islands from tomorrow. Our committee will conclude the visit on January 20. We will speak to the members of the committee there. We will ask them to be present between 20-24 January.” 

Nishikant Dubey's remarks came after Zuckerberg in a podcast with American TV host Joe Rogan earlier claimed, "The reaction to COVID probably caused a breakdown of trust in a lot of governments around the world. 2024 was a big election year around the world, and there are all these countries, India, just like a ton of countries that had elections, and the incumbent lost every one of them.”  

Nishikant Dubey said that Indian parliament is a sovereign power, and no other country can challenge the decision of the parliament. He even mentioned the recent decisions taken by Australian parliament. Asked whether the committee has the authority to act against Meta officials, he said, “Powers of the Committee are the powers of the Indian Parliament. The Indian Parliament is a sovereign power. So, no other country can challenge the authority of parliament. If the Indian Parliament wants, it can take any decision. In Australia, there was a fight that you are a publisher or an intermediary, you will have to pay money and the Australian Parliament decided that you are a publisher, you will have to pay money. If the US Parliament imposed taxes on them, then they had to pay tax even if they did not want to pay tax. So, that's like America is sovereign, Australia is sovereign, UK is sovereign in the same way our democracy is sovereign and the committee is nothing. The Indian parliament has given the authority to the committee which has representation from all political parties and its decision is the final decision. We will ask the government to act on it and the government will take action.” 

On Monday, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw criticised Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and called him "factually incorrect" over his remark that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID. He added that the people of India have reaffirmed their trust in the NDA led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  

“As the world's largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. People of India reaffirmed their trust in the ND led by PM @narendramodi Ji's leadership. Mr. Zuckerberg's claim that most incumbent governments, including India in the 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect. 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,” Vaishnaw posted on X. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI/ANI)