Meta apologises for Zuckerberg’s ‘inadvertent error’

The Facebook founder has irked New Delhi by claiming that most incumbent governments, including India’s, lost elections in 2024.

Meta has apologised to India for CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comment that it was one of the countries where the incumbent administration lost an election in 2024. Responding to criticism from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, Meta India’s vice president, Shivnath Thukral, called it an “inadvertent error.”

“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 apologise for this inadvertent error,” Thukral posted on X on Tuesday.

The apology came days after Indian Railways, Electronics, and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw called out Zuckerberg for “misinformation.” The Meta founder made the remarks about the results of the 2024 elections worldwide, including in India, during an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan last week.

Zuckerberg attempted to highlight how the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to a global decline in trust in governments and its impact on last year’s elections, stating that most incumbent governments lost, including India’s. While Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not secure a clear majority on its own, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which includes the BJP and its regional allies, won last year’s Lok Sabha elections. The NDA secured 293 out of 543 seats, securing Modi a third term.

Meanwhile, Vaisnaw’s post went viral in India, with social media commenters demanding an apology from Zuckerberg personally. New Delhi recently tightened its regulations concerning online misinformation. In April 2023, India implemented new IT rules that place increased responsibilities on social media platforms to tackle unlawful content and fake news.

Meta in particular has been locked in a dispute with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which in November imposed a $250 million penalty on the US tech giant for “abusing its dominant position.”

The decision relates to the privacy policy of Meta-owned messenger WhatsApp and the way it collect user data and shares it with other Meta companies. According to the CCI’s directive, Meta “coerced” WhatsApp users into accepting a 2021 privacy policy that allegedly expanded user data collection and sharing, thereby giving the company an unfair advantage over its competitors. On Thursday, Reuters reported, citing a court filing from Meta, that the US company may need to “roll back or pause” some features in India due to the directive, which it is currently challenging.