Zuck says Facebook is bringing free internet to Europe

Zuckerberg

Facebook big cheese Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that the company's free internet project, Internet.org, has its sights set on Europe.

Speaking in a Q&A, Zuck was asked if there were plans to expand it to the continent, to which Zuck responded:

"Yes, we want to bring Internet.org [everywhere] where there are people who need to be connected. We're starting off by prioritizing the countries with the most unconnected people and by working with network operators and governments who are most excited about working with Internet.org to get everyone online in their countries."

The service, which provides basic mobile internet to places previously unconnected, has already launched in India, Zambia, Kenya, Columbia and Tanzania.

Zuck defended the service to one user who commented that Internet.org only provides a very basic service, responding, "having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all".

Causing a Zuckus

During the hour-long Q&A session, Zuckerberg also revealed that he works just 50-60 hours a week, is excited about expanding Facebook's Messenger payment feature "over time", and hinted (yet again) that Oculus VR is looking well beyond gaming.

"Our mission [is] to give people the power to experience anything," he wrote. "Even if you don't have the ability to travel somewhere, or to be with someone in person, or even if something is physically impossible to build in our analog world, the goal is to help build a medium that will give you the ability to do all of these things you might not otherwise be able to do."

Richard Branson also stopped by to ask a question, because apparently he doesn't have Zuck's email and this was the only possible way to contact him.

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.


Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.