Day ago, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook, impressed China with a speech delivered in fluent Mandarin, as HNGN previously reported. But as he set foot in India to complete his Asian tour promoting Facebook's initiatives, he was treading on more antagonistic ground. The tech billionaire found himself defending his plan to expand Internet access in the country amid accusation that it violates India's net neutrality.
Facebook's Internet.org initiative offers free but filtered Internet to consumers in India, particularly in impoverished areas where people do not have access to a broadband network. Critics argue that the initiative is not about free Internet but rather free Facebook for all, since the connectivity is so stripped down it can only accommodate the social media platform in addition to a handful of apps.
Zuckerberg argues that it is not viable to build an Internet infrastructure that can offer unlimited access, according to CNN. His position is that Facebook has a moral obligation to expand Internet access and that the current initiative is better than having nothing at all.
Zuckerberg did not find himself alone in defending Facebook's free Internet offering, which has been renamed Free Basics. For instance, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to be an enthusiastic supporter of the initiative, according to the Inquistr. Some Indian personalities echo Modi's sentiment.
"The elite Indian condemnation of Internet for the poor is cloaked in righteous objections," Manu Joseph, an Indian novelist, said in the CNN report. "In fact, it is paid Internet that is restrictive because it denies the web to those who cannot pay."
