Following the entire Facebook-Cambridge Analytica fiasco, the Chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra has expressed a desire to explore an alternative social media platform.
Anand Mahindra, in a tweet, says that if any young teams plan to start an alternative platform, he would "like to see if he can assist with seed capital."
Facebook, at this point, is dealing with the biggest blight on its name since its conception. International media has reported that the data of millions of Facebook users was exploited to aid political campaigns both in India as well as abroad by companies such as Cambrige Analytica and India's Ovleno Business Intelligence. There has been scathing criticism from all ends and a number of Facebook users – including Elon Musk – have quit the platform over privacy concerns.
A whistleblower and a former employee of Cambridge Analytica, Christopher Wylie, has said that the organisation used Facebook to access millions of people's profiles and built models to exploit what they know about them and "target their inner demons."
“That was the basis the entire company was built on,” Wylie said.
India's information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has been seemingly furious at Facebook following the fiasco, has shown great appreciation for Anand Mahindra's idea and said that he "fervently hopes" Mahindra will take the lead.
Tech Mahindra, from the Mahindra group, is reportedly one of the top five software exporters in India. According to a report by The News Minute, Tech Mahindra announced towards the end of 2017 that it will be partnering with at least 20 to 30 startups every year in the areas of networking, communication technology and virtual reality.
It is hard to tell right now how far will Anand Mahindra go with this brand new idea, but one thing is certain – he certainly has the resources to make it work.
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