This morning Cleartrip, an Indian startup focused on travel, pulled out of Internet.org, the charity spearheaded by Facebook to help spread internet access to parts of the world where many people lack connectivity. Three other members of the original coalition — NDTV, Newshunt, and the Times Group — also declared that they were pulling some or all of their services from Internet.org due to concerns over net neutrality.
Indian startups are pulling out of Facebook’s Internet.org to protect net neutrality
A groundswell of concern over providing certain apps free of charge
A groundswell of concern over providing certain apps free of charge
The concept of net neutrality has been a hot topic of debate in the US over the last few months as the FCC adopted more stringent rules. That recently became true of India, too. As ClearTrip wrote on their blog, “Over the past couple of weeks, a heated debate on net neutrality has come to the forefront, not just amongst India’s digerati, but in mainstream media as well, with national dailies carrying front page articles about it.”
NDTV is committed to net neutrality and is therefore exiting, and will not be a part of, Facebook's http://t.co/r3IZLs9qEJ initiative.
— Prannoy Roy (@PrannoyRoyNDTV) April 15, 2015 Airtel, a mobile network operator in India, was working with local startups to create a platform where startups could pay for data usage, making their services free for users. This would be similar to the sponsored data initiatives we've seen in the US, which the FCC recently said it would qualify as an unacceptable form of "paid prioritization." Internet.org worked the same way, providing users with free access to a selection of 39 "essential" services, including Facebook. Flipkart, one of India's largest e-commerce companies, decided against joining Airtel's new program, publicly citing the defense of net neutrality as its cause.
Time to draw a line in the sand, Cleartrip is pulling out of http://t.co/S7VKhY4RC7 & standing up for #NetNeutrality http://t.co/JtpCtbK0AT
— Cleartrip (@Cleartrip) April 15, 2015 Questions linger over why Internet.org is being styled as a charity, rather than a business venture, and whether it might be trampling on net neutrality in its efforts to spread internet access. Just yesterday, during a Q&A session on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg was asked what he thought of the conflict.
“I think net neutrality is important to make sure network operators don’t discriminate and limit access to services people want to use, especially in countries where most people are online,” he wrote. “For people who are not on the internet, though, having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all. That’s why programs like Internet.org are important and can coexist with net neutrality regulations.” It seems a growing number of Indian tech companies don’t agree.
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