American President Donald Trump on Thursday said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents "1.5 billion" Indians, has an advantage on Facebook, while referring to the number of followers the two leaders have on the social networking site.
Trump, who is set to visit India next week, said Modi is "number two" on Facebook in terms of followers and he is number one as told to him directly by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
"I'm going to India next week, and we're talking about -- you know, they have 1.5 billion people. And Prime Minister Modi is number two on Facebook, number two. Think of that. You know who number one is? Trump. You believe that? Number one. I just found out," Trump said.
India's population currently is 1.3 billion people as per official statistics.
Facebook pages on Thursday reflected that Modi is followed by 44 million people, while the account of Trump by 27 million. The US population is estimated to be 325 million.
Trump said he was recently congratulated by Zuckerberg for being the number one on Facebook during his address.
"The head of Facebook Mr Zuckerberg came in three weeks ago. He said, 'Congratulations.' I said, 'On what?' He said, 'You're number one on Facebook.' I said, 'That's cool.' Number one on Twitter too," the president said.
"That's because -- it's true. And if I wasn't, I could never say it because it would be breaking news that Trump told a fib. No, number one," he said.
"And I congratulated Prime Minister Modi. I said, "But, you know, you have 1.5 billion people. I have 350 million. You have an advantage," Trump said.
This is not the first time the US President has claimed to be the number one and Prime Minister Modi number two on their popularity on Facebook. Last week, Trump took to Twitter and claimed to be the number one on Facebook, citing Zuckerberg.
In an interview to CNBC TV Trump had said, "I'm No.1 on Facebook, you know who's no.2? Modi from India".
