Zuckerberg Fights For Free Basics

Facebook wants to launch an app called Free Basics in the U.S. The company first designed the app based on the belief that anyone should be able to access the internet — and Facebook, of course — for free. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg created an initiative called Internet.org along the lines of Google’s Project Loon. The initiative is based on a partnership between a few companies that include Samsung and Qualcomm.

According to ZDNet, the mobile app is now in 53 emerging markets in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Latin America in partnership with local carriers. Users can access news, health information and jobs sites, and data use does not count against the mobile data allowance.

But there was controversy in India five months after the app was launched. Operators were charging varying prices for data, and Facebook was forced to shut down the service after regulatory action was taken against operator schemes. Facebook also canceled the service in Egypt, reportedly because it refused to cooperate with government surveillance orders.

Younger Indians were also unhappy, arguing that internet should be available in its entirety, not just sites in the Free Basics program. Indian telecom regulations ruled that the app violated “net neutrality” or zero rating and that Facebook has an unfair advantage in offering a free internet service through carriers.

So, Facebook is now trying to circumvent regulations here in the U.S. and is in negotiations with the White House to pursue the possibility of launching Free Basics. In the U.S., the app is expected to provide service to Americans in rural areas and those with low incomes who cannot afford high-speed internet access either at home or on smart devices.

The big carriers in the U.S. are being excluded by Facebook, which is pursuing negotiations with regional, smaller carriers. Doing so might help Facebook avoid a conclusion by regulators that Free Basics is anticompetitive.