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Net neutrality has very quickly become one of the most discussed and debated issues in India. The basic background is that Team-A led by Bharti’s Airtel Zero and Facebook’s internet.org want to make usage of some apps and internet facilities free. Their logic, as presented by Mark Zuckerberg in his open letter today, is that many across the world don’t even have basic internet connectivity and deserve to have so.
Their critics, Team-B , argue that the move will help the signed apps gain unfair advantage. In fact, in an article published in qz.com today, Mahesh Murthy goes on to call it ‘economic racism’. He says that those who’ll sign up with Facebook or Bharti will “sit at the ‘front door’ of the internet to these newbie users”.
Another concern is that start-ups won’t be able to participate in the game. If they fail to cough up the placement fees, then the chance of them getting discovered will be seriously hampered, which again in turn will be playing into the hands of the big boys at the table.
Murthy has also criticised Google and Twitter. Both these companies have fought for net neutrality in the US but signed up with Airtel Zero in India. A plausible reason offered for the advent of Internet.org is that the net profit difference between Facebook and Google. Murthy says, “the former (Facebook) makes $12 billion off them (1.3 billion users) and the latter (Google) makes $66 billion (same number of users)—a full 5 times more per user.”
Zuckerberg has defended Internet.org as a game changer. He has said, “800 million people in 9 countries can now access free basic services through this medium”. He further adds, “We have a historic opportunity to connect billions of more people worldwide for the first time.”
Industry journalist, Nikhil Pahwa in his response (published in Hindustan Times) has countered by giving many instances where free services have failed to do good for the mass. He calls Zuckerberg’s ambitious project an effort to “confuse hundreds of millions of emerging market users into thinking that Facebook and the Internet are one and the same.”
He further questions: “Who selects the companies that get the benefit of zero-rating via Internet.org? What are the terms? Nobody knows, because none of that is publicly available.”
Zuckerberg in his article says, “Internet.org is open to all mobile operators and as many internet providers as possible. “ Pahwa points out that this does mean it is open to all apps and internet sites.
It may be noted that some have withdrawn their commitment from Airtel Zero and Internet.org in the last couple of days. Facebook, Cleartrip, NDTV, Times of India are some of them.
