On Friday 10th October 2014 the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met Facebook founder, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg in New Delhi. Both of them discussed a wide range of issues revolving around the innovative use of Facebook as a platform to engage with a large audience in the service of humanity.
The Prime Minister spoke to Mr. Zuckerberg about the Swachh Bharat Mission. It may be recalled that that the Prime Minister shared his ‘Why Clean India’ (Before) and ‘My Clean India’ photo along with a video on Facebook on 2nd October 2013. Mr. Mark Zuckerberg stated that Facebook wants to work with the Government of India in the fields of healthcare, education and provide a gamut of services to the people. Mr. Zuckerberg added that Facebook will help in the creation of the Clean India Mobile App and that it would be launched soon. This would give a strong impetus to the Swachh Bharat Mission.
They also talked about the Digital India initiative. Mr. Zuckerberg said that he is extremely excited about the Digital India initiative of the Government of India. Prime Minister Shri Modi asked Mr. Zuckerberg to identify some domains of Digital India where Facebook can get involved and help.
During the meeting the Prime Minister pointed that a lot of terrorist elements are using social media platforms to recruit members to join them. This is unfortunate and that we need to think of the role social media can play to stop terror.
Shri Modi recalled how he used social media during campaigns such as tracking the missing children, during his tenure as CM and how it gave wonderful results. The Prime Minister appealed to Mr. Zuckerberg to promote India’s rich tourist potential through Facebook. He asked Facebook to look at how to enhance Internet literacy along with Internet connectivity.