Facebook shut down
Facebook’s “Free Basics” program in
Egypt has been shut down, according to Facebook. It’s unclear why the new free
internet service stopped working.
However, the news arrives a week after
the Indian government temporarily
banned the program in the wake of ongoing net neutrality concerns . Free Basics is Facebook’s Internet.org
project with a new name. It gives people
free but limited access to Facebook and
some select online partners. Mark
Zuckerberg pitches Free Basics as an
altruistic dreamer’s quest to bring knowledge to the world, a no-brainer on-
ramp for literacy, light, and “likes.” While we don’t yet know what’s going on
in Egypt, disdain for the program is well
documented. In recent weeks, Indian net
neutrality activists, academics, and
entrepreneurs, have very publicly decried
Free Basics as a way for Facebook to control internet access. (Which, of course,
it is.) Zuckerberg argues that it is, undeniably, a way to connect people.
(Which, of course, it is.) The Facebook angle on the whole thing is
that it’s a high-minded and bleeding-
hearted near-charity project, a noble
mission. Zuckerberg’s been trying very
hard to convince everyone that building
an internet for poor people is a good idea, thoughhe has not been very successful. The angle for anyone who can smell half a
whiff of sanctimony-flavored corporate bullshit: It’s pretty convenient for Facebook that ~making the world a
better place~ involves making sure as
many people become data siphons and
customers of Facebook’s products and
platforms as possible.