Why Facebook’s Internet.org is Stumbling in India

Critics hammered Facebook‘s Internet.org, the company’s initiative to bring wireless Internet access to everyone in the world. That’s because to its opponents, Internet.org represents a skewed view of the Internet — a Facebook view of the Internet that one detractor likened to “economic racism” which stands to benefit the social network and its partners more than anybody else.

From Facebook’s standpoint, Internet.org is a win-win-win. Users get free Internet services that they wouldn’t otherwise pay for; telecom providers get new customers in the ones who are prompted to buy data plans; and Facebook gets more users from markets that are reaching the Internet for the very first time. This last point is especially critical for Facebook as it has started to see slower growth in the US. But opponents say the plan is not adherent to net neutrality, the belief that all Internet data should be equally treated and equally accessible, and a principle that Facebook has vocally supported back in the United States. The debate may go a long way in determining how Internet.org is adopted in other parts of the world.