Facebook’s Zuckerberg: Net neutrality can be taken ‘too far’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the company’s controversial Internet.org project while in India on Wednesday, saying it could help connect parts of the country that otherwise wouldn’t have access to the Internet.

The Internet.org Basic Services project, since renamed Free Basics, allows users to access certain applications without paying.

The service triggered an outcry when it was introduced in India, with many saying it violated net neutrality principles, which is the idea that all traffic on the web should be treated the same way. But Zuckerberg said that the outrage might not include the people who would benefit from the service most.

“We all have a moral responsibility to look out for people who don’t have the Internet,” he said, according to The New York Times. “The people who aren’t on the Internet can’t sign an online petition pushing for more access to the Internet.”

{mosads}Zuckerberg said that it was possible to take the idea of net neutrality “too far,” according to the Times. But he also reportedly said that the project was “an open platform that any developer can build something for, regardless of who they are, as long as they follow the basic rules of what Internet.org is.”

The controversy comes at a time when Facebook is trying to position itself in the large and potentially lucrative Indian market.

Their efforts have included courting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the social media giant’s California headquarters last month and participated in a town hall with Zuckerberg. Modi has laid out policy proposals aimed at getting more Indians online — and Silicon Valley has broadly embraced it.

But the outcry over Internet.org was a notable setback for Facebook in the country. Activists have argued that Facebook is creating a limited view of the Internet for customers who sign up for the service, offered through a local partner.

And some in India reportedly worry that the service is really just a way to attract new customers to Facebook and its local partner, Reliance.