Softball questions robbed Zuck's Townhall of some sheen

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is on a mission. And the mission is to connect millions of the poor to the internet. That is what Facebook says. But the reality is more nuanced, layered and complex.

On Wednesday, Zuckerberg, during his Townhall meeting at IIT Delhi, charmed the audience. The reverse may not be true. Unfortunately, the questions asked of him at the event were such that he didn't get to explain the basics of Free Basics. Instead, we got more information on the fate of Candy Crush invites.

In spite of the students' brilliant minds - well, they are students at one of the top engineering colleges of the world - those who got the opportunity to ask questions were not the most articulate ones. They did not help us get more information about Facebook's plan for providing internet to the poor.

For instance, many of them asked how Candy Crush invites can be stopped on Facebook. The answer, in case you are interested in such a thing, was that Facebook is working on a mechanism that would help block such invites. Now, one doesn't need to go to an IIT to learn how to switch off unwanted notifications from apps.

Every question at the meet evidently was pre-screened. Another student asked about notification settings on Facebook, while another wanted to know what kind of a superpower Zuckerberg would like to build in case he was granted a wish.

In between, there was a lost opportunity for Facebook to explain its stance on more important topics such as net neutrality, privacy and issues like copyright and content ownership, though Zuckerberg did tell the audience that India is important for Facebook, as according to him, the world is poorer when millions of people here aren't using the internet. However, in that one hour, the Facebook CEO could have discussed many more weighty issues instead of talking about the Candy Crush invites, although these invites are no doubt fairly annoying.