A Facebook board member’s offensive tweet has Indian Twitter crying foul

A Facebook board member wished that Silicon Valley could bring colonialism back to India

Andreessen eventually backed down after his tweet managed to rub many people -- including self-professed fans -- the wrong way.

We'll forgive you if you haven't heard of Marc Andreessen. He's a fabulously wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor who has invested in startups like Foursquare, Twitter and GitHub that became huge companies.

More importantly, Andreessen is an investor in and on the board of Facebook, which just had its net neutrality-violating Free Basics program banned by TRAI, India's telecom regulator.

On Wednesday morning, this is what Andreessen decided to weigh in on the Free Basics debate and tweeted this:

(⊙_⊙) pic.twitter.com/zd9IWwL5M2

— Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) February 10, 2016

Andreessen's tweet may have been sarcastic, but he eventually deleted it and went on the defensive.

And for the record, I am opposed to colonialism, in any country. https://t.co/3ommgZssMm

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 10, 2016

Colonialism in India is a prickly topic. The country was under British rule for more than 200 years and has a history of subjugation, so Andreessen's tweet managed to rub many people -- including self-professed fans -- the wrong way .

No one should have stretched that discussion in such manner. ~A fanboy of @pmarca and supporter of #TRAI stand. https://t.co/Oz2yLkLAk2

— Vijay Shekhar (@vijayshekhar) February 10, 2016

@prasanto I can't believe this. I hope this is not what they discuss in Facebook board meetings--which have no Indians on it

— Vivek Wadhwa (@wadhwa) February 10, 2016

@prasanto my mouth just hit the floor…no idea he is on on board. His message is so wrong, cruel, and xenophobic. @om

— Darren Cohen (@RealDarrenCohen) February 10, 2016

.@pmarca (on Facebook board of dirs) and @BenedictEvans wishing Silicon Valley could bring colonialism back to India https://t.co/U7EcYBo8JC

— Geoff Boeing (@gboeing) February 10, 2016

Now @facebook Board Director @pmarca suggests being colonized was good for India & we should've let Fb do so:) pic.twitter.com/kq7ZsNTQGl

— Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy) February 10, 2016

Hey @pmarca: Your $45mn Free Basics campaign didn't work…so how about spending another $45mn actually giving free internet to India's poor?

— Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) February 10, 2016

Andreessen eventually backed down.

Off to bed. Good night, India! 😀

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 10, 2016

But hey, it's the internet. Everything lives forever.

@BenedictEvans @aghoshal @pmarca @lemonandice Subtext: Colonialism would any day be better economically. Natives should learn to take help.

— sayeed anjum (@asanjum) February 10, 2016