Facebook’s Free Basics: what’s so wrong with giving the world free internet?
Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Give him access to a handful of websites, and he’ll pull himself out of poverty. That’s the reasoning of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO and lately self-ordained saviour of the developing world. In 2013, Facebook launched Internet.org, an initiative which would offer free internet services in 37 countries – with a catch. Internet.org, provided by Facebook but paid for by telecoms operators, would let customers connect to certain sites for free, including Wikipedia, AccuWeather, and, of course, Facebook itself. The initiative aimed to overcome the pricey smartphone data packages used by many in developing countries, and allow users free access to core services like the weather, and, er, Facebook. Three years and one rebrand on, the platform now called “Free Basics” has attracted over 15m users and criticism from all sides – most recently in India. Not so neutral Most criticisms of Zuckerberg’s pet project focus on the issue of “net neutrality”. This is
Jan 14, 2016 ... In 2013, Facebook launched Internet.org, an initiative which would offer free internet services in 37 countries – with a catch. Internet.org, provided ...