Let’s uphold facts and credibility: Union Minister Ashwini Vaisnaw fact-checks Mark Zuckerberg over India elections claim

In an interview on Friday with popular podcaster Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg wrongly claimed that most incumbent governments, including India, lost elections in 2024.

Zuckerberg's claim "is factually incorrect," Vaishnaw said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government had won the 2024 general elections.

Correcting Zuckerberg, Vaishnaw posted on X, "As the world's largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. The people of India reaffirmed their trust in the NDA led by PM."

"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 said.

During the interview, Zuckerberg was trying to explain how the COVID-19 pandemic led to the global erosion of trust in governments and influenced elections.

"2024 was a very big election year around the world and all these countries, India, had elections. The incumbents basically lost every single one. There is some sort of a 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," he said.

Mark Zuckerberg recently announced his social media company Meta is ending its fact-checking program and replacing it with a community-driven system, similar to that of Elon Musk's X.

The announcement triggered alarm with the move being widely seen as an attempt to favour President-elect Donald Trump whose conservative support base has been complaining that fact-checking on tech platforms was a way to curb free speech.

US President Joe Biden called the move "really shameful" and a global network warned of "devastating consequences" if the tech giant broadened its policy to other countries.