Facebook’s Free Basics service, a controversial free internet service aimed at serving up partner sites to the poor in developing countries, has had a mixed run globally.
Egypt: The zero-rating app by FB was shut down in Egypt on December 30, 2015, two months after its launch. The reasons for the shutdown are unclear.
Brazil: The Brazilian attorney-general’s office in September 2015 said that FB’s Free Basics follows “misleading advertising and is against net neutrality”.
China: The Chinese govt has banned FB and zero-rated platforms in the country
Zambia: On January 21, 2016, Google withdrew from the Free Basics platform in Zambia. All a Google spokesperson said is that “Google is not a partner in Free Basics or Internet.org.”
India: The launch of the zero- rating platform has been put on hold after web activists petitioned telecom regulator TRAI to stop the launch through Reliance Comm.
Countries That Have Net Neutrality Laws
Chile: The first country to enact a net neutrality law in 2010
The Netherlands: Passed a law on net neutrality in 2011, making it the first country in Europe and the second country in the world to pass such a law
Brazil: Passed legislation in April 2014 called the “internet bills of rights” which makes equal access to internet mandatory
The US: It adopted a net neutrality law in Feb 2015. This was a direct result of a petition on White House’s ‘We the People’ platform to ‘Restore Net Neutrality by Directing the FCC to classify Internet Providers as Common Carriers’.
Countries Where Free Basics Has Been Launched, According Tto Facebook
Latin America Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru
Asia Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iraq, Maldives, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, India
Africa Angola, Benin, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya (Free Basics has met with problems as telcos have filed complaints to the Communications Authority of Kenya), Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa (The parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services of South Africa held hearings from stakeholders on possible regulation of over-the-top (OTT) services on Jan 26, 2016), Tanzania, Zambia (Google recently pulled out from Free Basics server in Jan 2016 citing no specific reasons).