Earlier this week after India’s Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) delivered its verdict on differential pricing favoring Net Neutrality, the future of Facebook’s Free Basics obscured significantly. It has now been announced that the controversial service that planned to offer access to fundamental web services to underprivileged users for free has now been closed down in India.
Facebook Confirms Pulling The Plug On Free Basics In India After TRAI Rules
In an announcement released by Facebook , the organization basically expressed that “Free Basics is no longer available to people in India.”
This takes after a tumultuous couple of days since the TRAI announcement, that saw solid responses from quarters both for and against the Facebook service one that was directly affected by the ruiling. From Facebook Director and Silicon Valley expert Marc Andreessen putting out a harsh tweet comparing India’s relinquishing of Free Basics to being anti-colonialism, to Mark Zuckerberg reacting strongly to it, to Andreessen at last apologizing, the Free Basics issue was without a doubt a topic of heated discussion.
I want to respond to Marc Andreessen’s comments about India yesterday. I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all.
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India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people. It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress.
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Facebook stands for helping to connect people and giving them voice to shape their own future. But to shape the future we need to understand the past. As our community in India has grown, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for the need to understand India’s history and culture. 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, Mark posted in his Official FB Page.
This isn’t the first worldwide case of Free Basics being banned toward the begin of this year the services was banned in Egypt on the grounds the permission to run it the starting two-month period wasn’t restored.
In spite of it being shutdown in India, Facebook keeps on working the Free Basics venture in around 30 countries over the globe.