Science & Tech Quote by Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg is doing a familiar bit of Silicon Valley aikido: taking a moral critique (why build social platforms when people lack basic healthcare?) and flipping it into a systems argument where his product becomes part of the cure. The line starts with dutiful empathy, name-checking “global health” to signal he’s not indifferent. Then comes the pivot word that matters: “But.” From there, the framing tightens into managerial inevitability: “the reality is” isn’t a claim so much as an attempt to close debate.

The subtext is defensive and expansionist at the same time. By insisting it’s “not an either-or,” he rejects the premise that resources, attention, and political will are finite. That’s convenient for a company often accused of absorbing those very things. Health and internet access become parallel “needs,” which quietly elevates connectivity to the status of a basic utility - not a luxury, not a consumer choice, and certainly not a corporate strategy.

The key metaphor - “Internet as a backbone” - does rhetorical heavy lifting. Backbones are foundational, non-negotiable, biologically necessary. In one phrase, the internet stops being a service Facebook profits from and starts being infrastructure society can’t function without. “Connect them to the whole economy” reveals the ideology under the benevolence: the goal isn’t merely information or community; it’s participation in markets. Contextually, this sits in the era of Facebook’s connectivity initiatives and reputation battles, a polished argument for why building the pipes (and controlling the on-ramps) is framed as public good rather than private power.