Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook was back at the Mobile World Congress, talking about his pet project – internet.org. While he spoke a lot about what can be done and how to connect more people to internet (so that Facebook can see more ad impressions), he cited how Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses Facebook:
“Modi used the internet as a primary campaigning tool to connect with people,” said Zuckerberg. And in a country where access to internet remains a major issue, Zuckerberg found it very unique.
Last month, Facebook launched its internet.org initiative in India in several south Indian states in partnership with Reliance. The project will allow Reliance data users to use several web services for free while accessing them through the internet.org App.
“Reliance customers in six Indian states (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, and Telangana) will now have access to more than three dozen services ranging from news, maternal health, travel, local jobs, sports, communication, and local government information,” said Facebook. “This is a big step forward in our efforts to connect everyone to the internet and to help people share their ideas and creativity with the entire world.”
When Zuckerberg came to India last year, he had also met PM Modi. Ahead of the meeting, Zuckerberg had said that he was just going to listen and ask the Indian Prime Minister what Facebook could do to help the government here. The two reportedly discussed how Facebook could be used as a platform to deliver and build services, especially around healthcare. Zuckerberg also promised that Facebook would build Swachh Bharat campaign App though it was reported that later the government roped in other firms for this project.
