Marc Andreessen an American entrepreneur who is on the Facebook board, insinuated in a tweet bashing TRAI's decision in India to block differential pricing of services on the internet landed him in a slush of outrage as he invoked the good ol' days of a colonised India.
Anti-Colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now," he tweeted in reply to analyst Benedict Evans and venture capitalist Vikram Chachra. The tweet came in response to TRAI's path-breaking ruling which blocked differential pricing of services on the internet. The ruling affected Facebook's Free Basics programme and zero rating plans like Airtel's Zero, both of which have been rendered illegal in India. TRAI has won plaudits from technologists the world over including the inventor of the world wide web Sir Tim Berners Lee.
But the reaction from Silicon Valley came tinged with a patronising attitude, basically saying the Indian government wasn't realising how the decision would deprive the poor from availing free services. 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. Internet.org has many initiatives, and we will keep working until everyone has access to the internet," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. In the wake of the ruling tech analyst Benedict Evans tweeted that people for whom Internet.org was meant for probably wouldn't even know that it existed. With Facebook's idea blocked, I await with interest alternative ways to let people with 50 cents a month to spend to go online," he tweeted.
Andreessen responded to one of his tweets, which has resulted in the controversy. The reaction forced him to withdraw, not his comments but from making any comments. Ah, the sarcasm.
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