Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made his displeasure known over a tweet by Facebook board member Marc Andreessen that offended Indians and others worldwide.
Facebook’s “Free Basics” program, which would provide selected services for free to Indian mobile subscribers, was recently rejected by the country’s telecom regulators, who said Internet data providers should not favor some online services over others.
While participating in a conversation on Twitter on Tuesday comparing Free Basics to British colonialism in India, Andreessen quipped: “Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?”
The tweet provoked a veritable hurricane of disapproval, and Andreessen deleted it shortly afterward.
Andreessen attempted to make up for the offensive tweet by following up withseveral apologetic ones, volunteering to remove himself from future conversations on the topic.
But the damage was done, and it wasn’t just random users who made their displeasure known.
Zuckerberg posted publicly to Facebook on Wednesday afternoon to express his and the company’s opposition to Andreessen’s initial tweet:
