After stirring up the hornet’s nest with his “anti-colonialist” remark about India, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen today apologised saying it was “ill-informed and ill-advised” comment about Indian politics and economics.
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“Free Basics is no longer available to people in India”, a Facebook spokesperson said in an e-mail statement to IANS.
Earlier in the day, Kirthiga Reddy, MD, Facebook India, who was attending a seminar organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India in New Delhi, refused to comment on Free Basics. “It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress”, the Facebook founder said.
“I am a huge admirer of the nation of India and the Indian people, who have been nothing but kind and generous to me for many years”, wrote Andreessen on Twitter as part of a flurry of tweets known as a “tweetstorm”. “Why stop now?” The post sparked an outcry in the country after which Mr. Andreessen had to delete the tweet.
Facebook board director Andreessen apologized on Wednesday for posting tweets in which he suggested that India would have been better off under British colonial rule.
Facebook has officially withdrawn its controversial Free Basics project in India, following a verdict by the country’s telecom regulator banning differential pricing for zero-rated platforms.
“We know that connecting them can help lift people out of poverty, create millions of jobs and spread education opportunities”. Calling the comments “deeply upsetting”, Zuckerberg made it clear that Andreessen’s views do not represent Facebook or his thinking.
“Denying world’s poorest free partial Internet connectivity when as we speak they’ve none, for ideological causes, strikes me as morally flawed”, Andreessen wrote.
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On Monday, TRAI said in a much-awaited regulatory order that “No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content”. His comments garnered support in social media, including from other venture capitalists, but critics in India and elsewhere pushed back. “Indian companies and people have had profoundly positive effect on the Internet and world!”, he said.
