After major setback, what's next for Facebook in India?

Washington

IT was a terrible week for Facebook in India. India's telecom regulator dealt the first major blow to the social media giant's effort to provide low-cost Internet to the poor last Monday - effectively banning its Free Basics application and others like it after months of controversy.

Things went downhill from there. Well-known venture capitalist and Facebook board member Marc Andreessen created a stir with an ill-advised tweet that seemed to suggest British colonialism had been good for the country, prompting a public rebuke from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook India's managing director Kirthiga Reddy announced on Friday she would be stepping down and moving back to the US, a "bittersweet moment", she said in a post.