On 10th January, Joe Rogan published a two-hour-long podcast with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, where they discussed several topics including content moderation, trust in governments, COVID-19, algorithms, government influence, and more. During the discussion, Zuckerberg surprisingly suggested that the incumbent Modi government in India lost during elections held in 2024.
While analysing the global loss of trust in governments triggered by their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zuckerberg pointed out that pandemic policies and inconsistent governance had led to public dissatisfaction worldwide. According to him, this dissatisfaction affected electoral outcomes in several nations.
Referring to the elections held around the world in 2024, Zuckerberg said, “Incumbents basically lost every single one.” Interestingly, the only country that Zuckerberg specifically mentioned was India, where he suggested the incumbent government had also lost. However, this assertion is factually incorrect, as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a decisive victory in the 2024 general elections. This marked the third consecutive victory for the BJP-led alliance under PM Modi’s leadership, maintaining its hold on power with widespread public support.
Fog of misinformation around India has become crazy
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) January 12, 2025
Mark Zuckerberg says most incumbent govts around the world basically lost in 2024 …. and the only example he could think of was India!
No, India was a rare exception where incumbent won!
Total madness! pic.twitter.com/RjyAtv4oKm
Zuckerberg’s assertion highlights how sweeping generalisations can lead to inaccuracies, even during discussions about complex global phenomena. Notably, while Zuckerberg made this mistake, it is ironic that Meta, with its social media platforms, has played a significant role in shaping the political landscape in many countries, including India. The influence Meta exerts on a global audience is often reflected in the clashes between the company and governments over content moderation.
Earlier, OpIndia reported how Zuckerberg exposed the Biden administration’s censorship regime during the same podcast. He stated, “These people from the Biden administration would call up our team and scream at them and curse.”
The Meta founder added that while he had no call recordings, the emails were available for public access. “It just got to this point where we were like, no, we are not gonna take down things that are true. That is ridiculous,” he said.
Notably, BJP-led NDA alliance won 293 seats, way beyond the majority mark of 272, while opposition INDI Alliance managed to get only 234 seats, way short of the majority number. Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg is unaware of what happened in Indian elections.
