Marc Andreessen is a leading figure in the venture capital world and has held a seat at Facebook Inc FB's board of directors since 2008.
Andreessen came under fire when he took to Twitter to offer his views on a recent ruling by the Indian government to block Facebook's initiative of delivering free Internet to the country because the content is limited. Critics of Facebook's initiative argue the Internet shouldn't be filtered and users should be able to access any information they desire and not be limited to content provided by Facebook.
"Denying world's poorest free partial Internet connectivity when today they have none, for ideological reasons, strikes me as morally wrong," Andreessen said in a now deleted tweet. He followed up in a second tweet, "Another in a long line of economically suicidal decisions made by the Indian government against its own citizens."
CNN Money noted that critics of Facebook's free Internet initiative recalled "imperialism and the East India Company" and was a "modern twist to what essentially used to be the white man's burden."
"Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?" Andreessen tweeted in response to critics.
Following the severe backlash, Andreessen publicly apologized and retracted his comments.
Zuckerberg: 'India Has Been Personally Important To Me And Facebook'
Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, also expressed his thoughts following Andreessen's tweets.
"India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people," Zuckerberg noted in his Facebook status update. "It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress."
Zuckerberg also noted he found Andreessen's comments "deeply upsetting" and does not represent "the way Facebook or I think at all."
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