Talking about its controversial Free Basics programme, the young billionaire said the company has been lobbying for net neutrality across the world.
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Speaking to about 900 students at New Delhi’s Indian Institute of Technology, Mr Zuckerberg said broadening Internet access was vital to economic development in a country where a billion people are still not online.
Zuckerberg said his company was focusing on India as there are millions of people in the country who do not have access to data and information.
Mic in hand, alone on a large bare stage, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg painted a picture of the future that he sees – “of richer content…augmented and virtual reality through Oculus Rift evolving static 2D media into a 3D experience”. “That has been powerful, and provides a neutral platform without any filters”.
“I just gave my first ever speech in Chinese at Tsinghua University in Beijing-on why you need a strong sense of mission to change the world”.
We are doing that! But his stack of Reliance chips – each in a blue Freenet envelope that said “Go free Facebook” – was gathering dust in its display case. You start off building something you care about, and I had built it to be connected to my school community. There is data that shows that companies that have several co-founders are likely to be more successful.
All the IITians are keen to meet Mark Zuckerberg as he is an inspiration for these budding minds, but due to lack of space, many of them will not get a chance of interaction.
Like Zuckerberg could be operating in a parallel universe where the Townhall gets replayed in its entirety.
One citizen of India’s Garhwal region, which is near the Nepalese border, has been quoted to using or accessing the internet for at least 4 hours to check up with their relatives through Facebook and playing games. It’s an enabler for people to be able to help themselves find jobs, help themselves improve their health situation, improve their education for themselves and their children. Apparently, India wanted more than what Facebook can offer as of yet. “Welcome to the first Townhall Q&A in India”, says Zuckerberg.
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He said India has the second highest users of Facebook in the world which presents a good opportunity to develop the economy.
