Watch Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is hosting a townhall Q&A session at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Q1. Mark Zuckerberg addresses how to handle Candycrush requests!
We are doing that! This is why this Townhall is very useful. Some old functionalities allow people to send invitations for games that people have never played. We are working on modifying such functionalities to prevent these kind of functionalities.
Q2. How will you connect with those who are not on Facebook or/and have no internet?
A. We can look at the success of Internet.org to spread internet connectivity. It is live in 24 countries around the world. 15 million new people have access to the internet due to our efforts via Internet.org. I have seen some cynical reporting on Internet.org, but I don’t think that’s good. The programme is in its early stages in India but we are sure it will work. 4 billion people in the world don’t have access to internet. Three reasons – availability, affordability and the biggest one – awareness. Awareness means you have a phone and internet access but you don’t know why you should spend on a data plan, for example. We want to break down all these barriers. Investing in new age connectivity, through solar panels etc in rural areas. Second, we are trying to ensure that our apps use less data. So that it is more affordable to you. Also, providing people with basic information like employment news, health, educational opportunities and so on through a plan called free basics.
Q3. Why are you so interested in India?
Facebook wants to connect every person in the world and India is the world’s largest democracy.
There are a billion people in India with no access to the internet. Facebook can provide access to a variety of amenities for people who lack these amenties, through the internet. (Cue Internet.org)
Connecting people in India is one of the most important things in the world. Ideas from students and entrepreneurs in India can be shared with the world.
