India is crucial to Facebook’s mission to connect next billion people to Internet: Mark Zuckerberg

NEW DELHI: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said that India is crucial to the company’s mission to connect the next billion people to the Internet, and added that one job is created for every 10 people that get access to Web, as he pitched connectivity as a tool for removing poverty. “India is the world’s largest democracy… When you have a mission of connecting a billion people in the world, you can’t do that without connecting everyone in India,” Zuckerberg told a cheering crowd of around 1,000 students and guests at IIT-Delhi. “Over a billion people in India do not have access to the Internet,” he said.

“For every 10 people that get access to Internet, one job is created and one gets lifted out of poverty. There’s just a tremendous opportunity in India,” he added. Zuckerberg said that Facebook had made investments in introducing new types of schools in Africa.

“Hope to bring them to India too.” The 31-year-old billionaire was addressing his first town hall in India – Facebook’s secondlargest market after the US with around 137 million users – on his second visit to the country. His visit comes around a month after his public meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the latter’s recent trip to the US.

At that meeting, Zuckerberg had worn a suit and a tie, a far cry what he usually wears, but on Wednesday, he stuck to his trademark grey T-shirt and dark blue jeans. He had started the day with a run around India Gate with Chris Daniels, head of Internet.org, Ime Archibong, who is in charge of Internet.org partnerships, and a few members of the Facebook team. Later he met Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal at the latter’s head office in Vasant Kunj. And he ended the day with a Facebook post on his timeline: “We just wrapped up our Town hall Q&A in Delhi! People asked great questions about how we can connect everyone in India to the internet, how we provide everyone with a great education and how to build a strong company.”

India has over 302 million Internet subscribers, underlining the scope for Facebook. No wonder that at the townhall, Zuckerberg said that it’s important for him to talk to people in the South Asian nation and get a direct feedback on what’s working, and what’s not in Facebook. “That’s a huge thing for us.” He batted for a free Internet, saying Facebook was all for net neutrality. However, he said that zero-rated products that help people access the Internet for social benefits should be allowed.

“If there’s a fisherman in the village who now has access to Internet to sell some of his fish and provide for his family, no one gets hurt by that. That’s good,” Zuckerberg said.

CONCERT-LIKE FEEL

The town hall – more a structured Q&A anchored by Ankhi Das, Facebook’s Public Policy Director - India, South & Central Asia – started at 12.12 PM with Zuckerberg striding onto the stage with a mic in hand to huge applause from the audience. The hall, packed to the rafters since 11 am, had a concert-like feel with hit Bollywood numbers being belted out on the music system, prominent being hit songs from the Dhoom series. Zuckerberg answered some questions posted on his Facebook profile ahead of the event and some from the audience.

He wowed the audience with his experiences in setting up Facebook, saying he didn’t imagine how big it would become. And he stressed on teamwork, saying he alone didn’t build Facebook.

“There isn’t just one single person behind big companies. Companies that get started with more co-founders tend to be more successful.” He also had tips for students or graduates who may want to start their own company. His advice: start a company only when you know what you want. “Every good company was started by someone who cared about something. You shouldn’t decide to start without knowing what you want.”

And that entrepreneurs should be prepared to make mistakes all the time, and the only way to learn was by trial and error. Narrating from his experiences at Facebook, where he faced huge hurdles in selling the idea for years, he said: “You just have to keep at it and never give up.”

But the biggest cheer came when Zuckerberg said that he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were expecting a daughter. And tied to that remark was a glimpse into Facebook’s future. “For instance, my wife and me are expecting our baby daughter in some time. I want to be able to take a video or capture that experience of her taking her first step. I want to share that experience with my friends or parents,” Zuckerberg said. He spoke of Facebook’s future “of richer content...augmented and virtual reality through Oculus Rift, evolving static 2D media into a 3D experience”, and the importance of artificial intelligence.

While most of the students were ecstatic after the session, a few were left disappointed. “He should have spoken on the misuse of Facebook by extremist elements. People are misusing Facebook for wrong things like recruiting for terror agencies. He should have spoken about how he will restrict that,” said Piyush Mahadev, 27, who is completing his PhD in chemical engineering.

Seventeen-year-old Anup B, a computer science fresher from Hyderabad, described the townhall as a “fantastic experience” but was disappointed that Zuckerberg didn’t talk about how to protect private data from hackers. “It’s a serious issue and he should have spoken about it.” Zuckerberg left the podium after some 50 minutes to the title song of the hit Bollywood movie, Chak De India.

The Facebook founder is scheduled to meet some MPs including Anurag Thakur, Derek O'Brien and Rajeev Chandrasekhar as well as business executives over lunch on Thursday afternoon.