Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has denounced comments made by key Facebook investor Marc Andreessen that appeared to support the colonization of India.

The high-profile Silicon Valley venture capitalist took to Twitter on Tuesday evening local time to defend Facebook's Free Basics program, which recently failed to garner support with Indian regulators. In his initial tweet, he said it was "morally wrong" to deny free partial-internet connectivity to the world's poorest people.

Tweet 1 Things went south when Andreessen responded to a user who compared Free Basics to "Internet colonialism." He replied in a tweet that has since been deleted, "Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?" Users on Twitter were, unsurprisingly, upset. Tweet 2

Tweet 3

Tweet 4 Facebook was quick to denounce the comments by Andreessen, who was an early investor in Facebook and has been a board member since 2008. The company said on Wednesday, "We strongly reject the sentiments expressed by Marc Andreessen last night regarding India."

In a separate post on Facebook, Zuckerberg called Andreessen's comments "deeply upsetting."

Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Zuckerberg wrote, "India has been personally important to me and Facebook," and that Andreessen's comments did not represent the way he, or the social media giant, thought. The Facebook founder said his travels in India solidified his understanding that "when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress."

Zuckerberg ended his Facebook post by saying, "I've been inspired by how much progress India has made in building a strong nation and the largest democracy in the world, and I look forward to strengthening my connection to the country."

India was under British colonial rule since the middle of 1700s till 1947.

Andreessen has since apologized for his gaffe, saying his comment was "ill-informed and ill-advised." He added, "To be clear, I am 100% opposed to colonialism, and 100% in favor of independence and freedom, in any country, including India."

Apology 3 Facebook's Free Basics is a program that offers free internet access to a limited number of websites.