Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg was given a hard time by critics in India after his effort to provide Indians with free access to a limited number of Internet services. They believe that it will hurt India's democracy and will violate net neutrality.
Zuckerberg was said to be forcefully pushing his free Basics service that provided basic Internet services for education, healthcare jobs and communication that people can use without paying for data. He already launched the service in partnership with 35 mobile operators in more than 30 countries around the world.
More than 15 million people have already come online because of the service saying, "The data is clear." "Free Basics is a bridge to the full internet and digital equality." With that said, who in their right minds could be against this proposition. Well surprisingly in India, this has been a big issue for debate.
More than 130 million people are Facebook users in India, making them the second biggest market in the world. Zuckerberg has ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modiin and has visited India twice. India is crucial to getting the next billion online.
But Zuckerberg is not having a walk in the park with this Free Basics proposition. Critics bash Free Basics saying that it runs contrary to the principles of net neutrality and that data providers should not favor some online service over others by offering cheaper or fast access. One of the mobile operators that have partnered with Facebook on this has put a hold on Free Basics due to what the critics are saying.
"This is not helping at all" says Zuckerberg. In an attempt to get leverage from supporters, Facebook launched a lavish campaign to canvass support for Free Basics.
On Monday, the weekday after Christmas, Zuckerberg lashed out against the critics for consistently spreading false claims even if that means leaving behind a billion people that need the internet just as much.
He says, "Instead of welcoming Free Basics as an open platform that will partner with any telco, and allows any developer to offer services to people for free, they claim - falsely - that this will give people less choice."
"Instead of recognising that Free Basics fully respects net neutrality, they claim - falsely - the exact opposite."
Zuckerberg says "certain basic services" are important for people's well being in all societies, we have collections of free books in libraries, free basic healthcare.
Basics, and the flexibility and freedom with which such an effort can evolve would be restricted or limited by Facebook's guidelines."
