Facebook says an "appetite" for solutions to tackle Nigeria's "connectivity challenges" has seen the service embraced.
The controversial free service has been criticized for its “walled garden” version of the internet to users meaning they could only accept select websites on the service. But Facebook responded by opening up the platform to a wider range of sites which met “technical specifications.” While it has drawn the ire of net neutrality advocates globally, it has also faced stiff opposition from some national regulators. India effectively banned the service earlier this year despite intense lobbying from Facebook. The move was expected to spur critics of the service to seek similar bans in other countries but across Africa, the service has been largely welcome. In Tanzania, where internet penetration stands at only 5%, the country’s regulator said the possibility of increased “adoption of data services” by Tanzanians was more beneficial to the market.
Again, unless Facebook’s arrangement with Airtel is exclusive, this isn’t a violation of network neutrality. Does a free bus with limited stops violate the neutrality of the road network, do 0800 numbers which allow free calls to a limited set of customers?
No, and it’s going to make those who think “free” (which it isn’t, viz Om Malik) a per se violation of network neutrality think again. The patronising condescension that suggests poor brown people need smart white people to save them from mistaking Free Basics for the internet is revolting. And hanging on the words of wealthy ex-patriots as authorities is worse.
Appropriating network neutrality as a club to beat a company whose success you don’t approve of is the quickest way to corrupt its value in protecting from the real threat.
If you don’t like Free Basics, and it’s not exclusive, make your own instead of taking this dog in manger approach of all or nothing. Let’s see how Nigeria progresses on half a loaf, for now.