Meta, the company owned by Facebook and Instagram, has apologized to India. Meta has publicly apologized on the statement of its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Meta has said that India is very important for him. This apology of Meta has come after the announcement of summoning him by the Parliamentary Committee on IT Affairs.
On behalf of Meta, its India Public Policy Head Shivnath Thukral said: Forgiveness Asked on X (first on Twitter). He has given a related reply below Ashwini Vaishnav’s tweet criticizing Zuckerberg. He has described Mark Zuckerberg’s statement as careless and unintentional.
Shivnath Thukral wrote, “Honorable Minister Ashwini Vaishnav ji, Mark’s statement that many existing parties did not return to government in the 2024 elections is correct in the context of many countries but not for India. We apologize for this mistake that happened due to ignorance and carelessness. India is important to META and we look forward to being at the center of its innovative future.”
Dear Honorable Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw Mark’s observation that many incumbent parties were not re-elected in 2024 elections holds true for several countries, BUT not India. We would like to apologize for this inadvertent error. India remains an incredibly important country…
— Shivnath Thukral (@shivithukral) January 14, 2025
Earlier, Nishikant Dubey, head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT Affairs, had announced to summon Meta in this matter on Tuesday (January 14, 2025). Nishikant Dubey had written, “My committee will call Meta for spreading misinformation. Misinformation tarnishes the image of any democratic country. That organization will have to apologize to the Indian Parliament and the people for this mistake.”
My committee for this misinformation @MetaMeta Will call. Misinformation about any democratic country tarnishes the image of the country. That organization will have to apologize to the Indian Parliament and the people for this mistake. https://t.co/HulRl1LF4z
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) January 14, 2025
Union Minister for IT Affairs Ashwini Vaishnav had also raised objection regarding this matter. In a tweet, while giving some information about the elections held in India, he had expressed disappointment over Zuckerberg’s statement. Ashwini Vaishnav had said that it is very disappointing to see the head of Meta giving wrong information.
It is noteworthy that Meta Chief Zuckerberg recently went to Joe Rogan’s podcast. This podcast of his was released on January 10, 2025. During this podcast itself, he talked about issues like content moderation, trust in government, COVID-19, algorithms, government influence. Meanwhile, he had claimed that after the Covid pandemic, the governments of many countries were affected and gave the example of India in this regard. There was a lot of criticism in India over Zuckerberg’s misrepresentation.
