NEW DELHI, Jan 13: The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday accused Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg of furthering “misinformation” following the latter’s characterisation of the 2024 General Election as a loss for the “incumbent” government.
“People of India reaffirmed their trust in NDA [National Democratic Alliance] led by PM @narendramodi Ji’s leadership,” Mr Vaishnaw said.
“I kind of think that 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,” Mr Zuckerberg said in an almost three-hour discussion on a podcast. “And the incumbents basically lost every single one,” he added.
This was the only time in the interaction that Mr Zuckerberg mentioned India, Meta’s largest market by population, in the conversation.
“Mr Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect,” Mr Vaishnaw said on social media platform X. “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,” Mr Vaishnaw said. “Let’s uphold facts and credibility.” A Meta spokesperson did not have an immediate comment on Mr Vaishnaw’s response when contacted on Monday evening.
Meta has announced a change in their fact-checking approach, starting with the U.S. The firm said it was moving away from partnerships with professional fact-checking organisations, and instead implementing Community Notes, a system that was first implemented on X.
“This whole point proves that the stand that we had taken was the right one that the owner or the generator of the information, or the person who is well-placed to fact check in a particular sector on a particular subject is the right person to do so,” Mr Vaishnaw said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
