Anand Mahindra calls for India’s own version of Facebook
28 Mar 2018
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The crisis confronting Facebook has resulted in India needing its own social networking company “that is very widely owned, professionally managed and willingly regulated,” tweeted automobile major Anand Mahindra on Tuesday.
Mahindra wondered in his tweet: “Any relevant Indian start-ups out there?” He also came out with an offer: “If any young teams have such plans, I’d like to see if I can assist with seed capital.”Of course, it’s apparent that hundreds – possibly thousands – of youngsters who read his tweet would have started working on Facebook-like projects to lure millions of Indians, and importantly, obtain funding from Mahindra, the boss at vehicle giant Mahindra & Mahindra.
The business tycoon, with more than 6.5 million Facebook followers, thanked everyone for the “flood of responses, suggestions & proposals,” and suggested copying tweets to a colleague of his, “who will work with me on this exploration. If nothing else, it should be fun…”
And among those who responded to his tweet was Ravi Shankar Prasad, the minister for law and justice and information technology. “Wonderful idea my good friend,” he tweeted. “Fervently hope to see you taking the lead.”
The minister had a few days earlier warned of action against Facebook if it tried to interfere in Indian politics (See: India wants Cambridge Analytica to clarify if it misused data to influence elections)
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