'Would like to apologise', says senior Meta official after Modi govt takes offence to Zuckerberg's Lok Sabha polls 'error'

After Mark Zuckerberg's remark on the incumbent government in India losing the elections drew the ire of the Narendra Modi government, Vice President, of Public Policy, Meta India, Shivnath Thukral has apologised on X.

"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 wrote in response to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's post where he had fact-checked the Meta head.

"India remains an incredibly important country for @Meta and we look forward to being at the heart of its innovative future," the official continued in the comment directly addressed to Vaishnaw.

Zuckerberg reportedly claimed in a podcast that after Covid, most incumbent governments across nations fell in the 2024 elections.

Vaishnaw said it was "disappointing to see misinformation from Mr. Zuckerberg himself" but the matter soon snowballed further, with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, saying that Zuckerberg would be summoned for his 'factually incorrect' comment on the Indian general elections.

Thukral's apology, however, seems to have cooled the matter down, with Dubey stating on X that the apology was the 'victory of the common citizens of India'.

Forgiveness suits the cobra that has poison

Dubey, after the swift apology from the Meta India official, asserted that Indians have "introduced the country's strongest leadership to the world."

Magnanimously stating that the 'responsibility' of his Parliamentary committee had ended on this issue, Dubey added "We will call these social platforms in the future on other issues."

He concluded his message with a line from a poem by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar which translates to "Forgiveness suits the cobra who has poison", and added "Jai Sansad, Jai Bharat."

TMC's Saket Gokhale, meanwhile saw Zuckerberg being summoned as an opportunity and had written to Dubey's Parliamentary committee that the Meta head be questioned about the recent callback of the fact-checking system.