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Facebook ( FB ) founder Mark Zuckerberg found himself in the awkward position of responding to tweets by company board member Marc Andreessen about India that Andreessen later deleted, with apologies to an upset audience. “I want to respond to Marc Andreessen’s comments about India yesterday,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page . “I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all.” Andreessen, a high-profile Silicon Valley venture capitalist and active user of Twitter ( TWTR ), apologized Wednesday for tweets that attacked the Indian government for banning Facebook’s free Internet service in that country and referred to India’s past colonial rule. On Monday, India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority ruled that Facebook’s Free Basics and other similar services are illegal for various reasons. Entrepreneurs in India had criticized the service, saying it positioned Facebook as a gatekeeper to the Web and fearing being left at a competitive disadvantage. The Free Basics service provides free but limited Internet service on mobile devices. The service is available to about 1 billion people across Asia, Africa and Latin America, designed to “bring more people online and help improve their lives,” Facebook says. It’s part of Facebook’s Internet.org initiative that, according to Zuckerberg, has provided Internet access to 19 million people in 38 countries. The decision by India to block Free Basics sent Andreessen into a tizzy. “Denying world’s poorest free partial Internet connectivity when today they have none, for ideological reasons, strikes me as morally wrong,” he tweeted. He added, “Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?” Zuckerberg Response Gentler Twitter users blasted Andreessen for the comments, which he deleted. “I apologize for any offense my comment caused, and withdraw it in full and without reservation,” Andreessen wrote. “I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me.” On Monday, Zuckerberg had responded to India’s ban, but in a gentler way. “While we’re disappointed with today’s decision, I want to personally communicate that we are committed to keep working to break down barriers to connectivity in India and around the world,” he wrote on a Facebook post. “Connecting India is an important goal we won’t give up on, because more than a billion people in India don’t have access to the internet.” Facebook is not alone in trying to expand Internet access to poor regions of the world. Alphabet ( GOOGL ) is the founder of Project Loon , a research and development project with a goal to bring Internet access to rural and remote areas using a global network of high-altitude balloons. Alphabet plans to create a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people all over. Facebook’s Internet.org, in addition to working with regional mobile-service providers, is also researching the use of unmanned aircraft for providing Internet access. Scalper1 News
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