Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg has promised to bring free internet to Europe.
Speaking during a Q&A session held on the social network, Zuckerberg pledged to make basic internet connections available to ‘anyone who needs to be connected’.
He claimed that this would move beyond developing countries, eventually rolling out into first world countries in Europe.
Interestingly, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson joined in with the questioning, asking: “I share your view that
Zuckerberg replied: “When we talk about connecting the world, most people talk about the clear benefits to all the people who will get internet and access and don’t have it today.
“Those benefits are many: access to education, health information, jobs and so on. Many people estimate that for every 1 billion people we connect, we’ll raise more than 100 million out of poverty.”
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The Harvard dropout then turned his focus to the business benefits of bringing more of the world online.
According to Zuckerberg, the growth of internet availability will act as a platform for aspiring businesspeople to create new enterprises.
“Think about how many brilliant entrepreneurs there are out there who have great ideas and the will to change the world, but just lack basic tools to do so today,” said the social network mogul.
“If you go by the population,
He added: “Once they get connected, we may have three times as many good ideas and amazing new services built that will benefit everyone around the world.”
Zuckerberg also waxed lyrical on Oculus VR, the virtual reality company bought by Facebook last year.
The Facebook boss talked up his company’s aim to use the Oculus Rift to let people ‘experience everything’ through the headset.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
