Mark Zuckerberg's idea that Internet access can lift poor people out of poverty has been receiving backlash.

During a speech at the United Nations in September 2015, the Facebook CEO stated that "when communities are connected" people can be lifted from poverty, CNN reported.

Back then, the 31-year-old entrepreneur said that Facebook would collaborate with the U.N. to help bring Internet access to refugee camps as Europe is facing migrant surges, the news outlet added. Zuckerberg's effort is part of the U.N.'s plan to end extreme poverty by 2030.

Zuckerberg launched Internet.org in August 2013 and said that connecting the 4 billion people in the world without Internet access could potentially lift 400 million individuals out of poverty, according to the Washington Post.

"Connecting the world is one of the fundamental challenges of our generation," he said last September, as quoted by CNN.

Zuckerberg said that helping 400 million impoverished people is "perhaps one of the greatest things we can do in the world," the Washington Post reported. He claimed that for every 10 people who acquire Internet access, one person is lifted out of poverty. Some experts, however, dismissed Zuckerberg's notion.

According to experts, it is not proven that providing Internet access to people removes their impoverished status, the news outlet noted. They also suspect that Facebook's effort to connect the evolving world is colonialism and eventually will only benefit the social media platform's business earnings.

Kentaro Toyama, a Michigan professor who wrote the book "Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology," said that Zuckerberg's claim about the benefits of Internet access is "deeply flawed," the Washington Post further reported. He said that the U.S. has experienced a golden Internet age, but the country's poverty rate has yet to drop.

Johannes Bauer, chairman of Michigan State University's Department of Media and Information, said that lifting people out of poverty presents "a more complicated policy that's not simply addressed" by giving Internet access, the news outlet noted. Bauer acknowledged that there is a number of anecdotal evidence about the positive effects of Internet access for the poor, but information on its long-term outcomes is vague.

Earlier this month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or TRAI, announced that it will forbid service providers from participating in free data programs based on content, Business Insider reported. This includes Facebook's Free Basics program.

India's decision to ban the Free Basics program has fueled a debate about tech companies donating Internet access to developing countries, the Washington Post wrote. The program allows users to only access certain Web pages -- such as Facebook -- without a fee while other websites require data charges.