Ashwini Vaishnaw Calls Out Meta's Mark Zuckerberg For Misinformation On India's 2024 Election

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday criticised Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's claim that most incumbent governments, including India's in the 2024 elections, lost post-Covid, calling it factually incorrect. "It is disappointing to see misinformation from Zuckerberg himself," the Union Minister stated on his X profile.

Zuckerberg sparked controversy when he appeared recently on the popular Joe Rogan podcast with his comments about the elections held in India in the summer of 2024. While discussing the global erosion of trust in governments following the Covid-19 pandemic, Zuckerberg suggested that public dissatisfaction had influenced election outcomes worldwide. Referring to the 2024 elections, he said, "Incumbents basically lost every single one." However, actually, in India, the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA had emerged as winners and formed the government again.

"As the world’s largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. People of India reaffirmed their trust in NDA led by PM @narendramodi Ji’s leadership. Mr. Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect," the Union Minister fact-checked Zuckerberg on his X profile.

"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," he added.

During the podcast, Zuckerberg said, "2024 was a big election year around the world and all these countries, including India had elections. The incumbents basically lost every single one. There is some sort of global phenomenon- whether it was because of inflation or the economic policies to deal with Covid or just how the governments dealt with Covid. It seems to have had this effect that's global."