On September 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the Facebook HQ at Menlo Park in California and discussing solutions to social and economic challenges with one of the biggest campaigners against net neutrality, Mark Zuckerberg. It’s no secret that India and Pakistan are potentially lucrative markets for Facebook.
In June this year, Facebook reportedly had about 125 million users from India. The country happens to be the social network’s second largest market worldwide. With a population crossing 1.2 billion, there’s plenty of scope for earning advertising revenue by the buckets. So Zuckerberg will hardly be hosting PM Modi for a simple Q&A session on September 27.
Just like any other smart businessman, Zuckerberg clearly wants the Prime Minister’s ear while he still has access to it. Whether it’s to insist that net neutrality can coexist with Internet.org or actually talk about how ‘communities can work together to address social and economic challenges,’ is left to be seen. The Facebook co-founder is mostly like to have both agendas on his list.
If you have any questions you’d like answered, you can visit this post and type it into the comments section. Last month, Facebook decided to clear some ugly truths related to Internet.org including the one claiming that it’s basically a walled garden, no matter how much Zuckerberg tries to deny it. In India, it is only available through Reliance. But the company says any mobile operator can sign up.
Also see: Facebook tricking users into supporting net neutrality-violating Internet.org
Also, any website can be on Internet.org as long as its mobile version is free of Flash and Java applets, iframes, HTTPS support, videos, large images, JavaScript and SVG images as well as WOFF font types. In the end, it’s supposed to be about Internet access for all, even the poorest of the poor. But if the government allows it to operate in India, then zero-rating platforms can be justified too.
Facebook has been bandying about spreading digital literacy, providing access to basic information and working with India on e-governance apps for some time. Most of these ‘noble’ causes are simply arguments in favor of its net neutrality-violation platform. What are your thoughts on this?