India’s Parliamentary Committee is set to summon officials from the social media platform ‘Meta’ following comments made by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. During a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Zuckerberg claimed that most incumbent governments, including India’s BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), lost power after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nishikant Dubey, BJP MP and chairperson of the Committee on Communications and Information Technology, announced that Meta would be called to account for these statements. “My committee will summon Meta for this misinformation,” Dubey wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

He continued, “Misinformation in any democracy tarnishes the country’s reputation. This organization will have to apologize to the Indian Parliament and the people for this mistake.” Dubey further stated that the committee would call on Meta officials, including Zuckerberg, to address the issue. “Zuckerberg’s statement is concerning. It suggests interference in the democratic process and misrepresents the situation by suggesting the BJP-NDA lost power,” Dubey added.

The BJP MP emphasized that Meta would be required to apologize or face potential action from the committee. He confirmed that between January 20 and January 24, the committee would summon Meta representatives to testify.

Zuckerberg made his controversial remarks during an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he stated, “The reaction to Covid probably caused a breakdown in trust in governments worldwide. Many countries, including India, had elections and in nearly all of them, the incumbents lost.”