MENLO PARK, Calif. — Facebook hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday for a townhall Q&A with CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The event comes on day two of the prime minister's visit to Silicon Valley, where he has met with investors and CEOs to encourage investment in his country. Speaking at Facebook's headquarters, Modi took questions on his efforts to help bring more of the country online and the need to bring more businesses to India.
During the Q&A, Zuckerberg reiterated the importance of getting more of the world online, the goal of the Facebook-backed Internet.org initiative, though he avoided mentioning the program by name. The initiative, which rolled out in India last year has become a source of controversy in the country in recent months.
Instead, Zuckerberg praised Modi's efforts with Digital India, the Indian government's program to help rural areas of India get access to the Internet.
Characterizing it as a humanitarian opportunity Zuckerberg said that "one of the greatest opportunities we have in the world today is to connect everyone to the Internet," noting that studies have shown Internet access can help bring people out of poverty.
On his part, the prime minister thanked Zuckerberg for his work and said he hoped his interest in the country reached beyond its implications for the company's bottom line."I’m deeply appreciative of Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to Digital India...for India to keep making progress, India needs to be a leader online."
"I hope that the inspiration that you got, and the inspiration that helps you start what you started, I hope that will not just be something to enhance your company’s bank balance," Modi said. "I hope that you will be the voice of millions and billions all over the world. I salute your spirit, I salute what you have done, and I thank you for it."
Facebook also rolled out a new tool that allows users to add a special filter to their profile picture to show their support for Digital India., which Zuckerberg showed off on his own page Sunday.
As Facebook looks to reach its next billion users, the social network's presence in India is increasingly significant. Internet.org, Facebook's plan to bring free Internet access to developing countries with limited connectivity, is a big part of that strategy.
But Internet.org has had a rocky reception in the country. The initiative sparked a fiery debate in India that came to a head earlier this year when several prominent Indian companies pulled their support for the program, following criticism it interferes with the tenets of net neutrality.
Internet.org provides feee access to several dozen sites, including BBC News, Wikipedia job sites and yes, Facebook. Critics and activists contend that by providing free access to only a certain number of sites, rather than the entire Internet, Facebook and its telecom partners are controlling access to information in a way that goes against the principles of a free and open Internet.
Facebook has continually rebuffed those claims and Zuckerberg has vocally defended the initiative, saying that the limited nature of Internet.org is a practicality. Making the entire Internet free would be too expensive, he has said, but
Facebook rebranded the Internet.org mobile app and website last week with a new name: Free Basics. The update also added more than 60 additional services that are available through the app in the 19 countries where its currently available. The rebrand was to help users "better distinguish between the broader Internet.org initiative and the app and website that currently provide access to free basic services," Facebook said in a statement.Internet.org and net neutrality "can and must coexist," the CEO wrote in a Facebook post earlier this year.
Modi also spoke of the need to improve the physical and digital infrastructure in India and his goal of connecting the country's thousands of rural villages through a fiber-optic network. "We are an $8 trillion economy today and my dream is to become a $20 trillion economy,' he said.
The visit to Facebook comes on the heels of a whirlwind tour of Silicon Valley. On Saturday, the prime minister met privately with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook and spoke to a large group of business leaders, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, according to Reuters.
The prime minister also spoke at length about the importance of educating women and empowering them to play a bigger role in society.
“If we want to achieve our economic goals, then we cannot do that if we imprison 50% of our population inside their homes,” Modi said. “This 50% of our population, the female power of our populations, we must have have a 100% partnership with them.”
You can watch the full Q&A here.
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