Social networking giant Facebook has hit back angrily against claims that its Internet.org project poses a serious global threat to net neutrality.
Facebook claims that Internet.org is a benevolent force aimed at delivering Internet coverage to poorer areas of the world. Part of its stated mission is: “No one should have to choose between food or medicine and access to the internet. Internet.org will […] develop technology that decreases the cost of delivering data to people worldwide, and helps expand Internet access in under-served communities.”
Facebook has also enlisted the cooperation of partners the likes of Samsung, Ericsson, Nokia and Qualcomm in the project. However, Internet.org has been beset with criticism in recent weeks, and suffered a major setback in India in April this year when a number of Indian IT enterprises pulled out of Internet.org at the eleventh hour.
Prannoy Roy, an executive at NDTV, one of the disgruntled Indian companies, tweeted, “NDTV is committed to net neutrality and is therefore exiting, and will not be a part of, Facebook's Internet.org initiative.” A number of other Indian tech executives made similar comments after withdrawing their support.
Critics have pointed out that Internet.org appears to favor certain carriers, sites and services. For example, Indian users of the service can enjoy free access to search engine Bing, but have to pay to use rival engine Google.
Facebook has addressed its critics in a written statement, refuting the claim that Internet.org is a self-serving attempt to boost Facebook’s own growth in developing markets. The company said, “There are no ads within the Facebook experience on Internet.org. If revenue were the goal, Facebook would have focused resources on markets where online advertising is already thriving.”
Others remain skeptical, however. A group of Brazilian tech companies, universities and digital experts wrote an open letter to the country’s president late last month saying Internet.org “could jeopardize the future of Brazil’s information society, the digital economy and the rights of users on the network, such as privacy, freedom of expression.”
American digital rights pressure group Free Press’ senior director of strategy Tim Karr on May 12 urged Facebook’s CEO Marc Zuckerberg to “chart a new course – one that supports the people and organizations that have devoted a great amount of time and energy to solving” the problem of helping poorer people gain net access.
Zuckerberg, however, defended his company’s record and insisted that Internet.org is currently on the right track, explaining that he “fully supports” net neutrality.
He said, “It's an essential part of the open Internet, and we are fully committed to it […] Internet.org doesn't block or throttle any other services, or create fast lanes. We will never prevent people accessing other services.”
By Tim Alper
