‘Free Basics’ row presents India dilemma for Facebook

Free Basics has proved uniquely controversial in India, where regulators suspended it temporarily in December pending a review of internet pricing rules. Facebook came out fighting, taking out full-page newspaper advertisements featuring a plaintive article from Mark Zuckerberg. He described his pet project as the online equivalent of free public libraries and health clinics. “Who could possibly be against this?” he wrote. Plenty of people, as it turns out. Facebook’s efforts have been assailed by high-minded internet activists and prominent start-up entrepreneurs alike. Technology luminaries such as Nandan Nilekani, founder of outsourcing group Infosys, have also come out against the plan, describing it as a “walled garden” that “goes against the spirit of openness on the internet”.

For much of this Facebook only has itself to blame. The first version of its service offered access to barely a dozen sites and gave confusing guidelines about how others could sign themselves up to participate. A rash of conspiracy theories about the company’s ulterior motives took hold. Some painted Free Basics as a kind of internet land grab that would ultimately give the social network arbitrary power over what millions of internet users could see. Others saw it as a thinly veiled attempt to steal a march on competitors such as Google and Twitter. More serious objections argued it compromised net neutrality, the idea that all parts of the internet should be available to its users on equal terms.