The Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology is expected to summon Meta officials after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the NDA government lost the Lok Sabha elections because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey who chairs the panel said on Tuesday that he would send the summons to Meta, asking the company to apologise to the Parliament. Taking to X, Dubey said, "My committee will call Meta for this wrong information."
He said such misinformation tarnishes the image of the country, pointing out that the statement is alarming and shows he is interfering in the democracy of the country.
“The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg has given a statement and shown that after Covid-19, an atmosphere has been created against the government where he has also mentioned India," the MP said.
Dubey said the parliamentary committee will meet from January 20 to 24.
The remark by Zuckerberg was made in the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. The Meta CEO said the reaction to Covid probably caused a loss of trust in several governments.
"And you know there are all these countries, India, just like a ton of countries, that had elections and the incumbents, basically lost every single one of them." he said.
Later, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw corrected Zuckerberg, pointing out that Indian voters reaffirmed their trust in the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha elections.
"Mr. Zuckerberg's claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect," he added.
Vaishnaw also said that the government provided free food to 800 million people, 2.2 billion free vaccines and aid to several other nations during Covid. He pointed out that PM Modi's third term is a testament to good governance and trust people put in the government.
"Meta, it's disappointing to see misinformation from Mr. Zuckerberg himself. Let's uphold facts and credibility," the minister added.
