Giridhar Pai
In the past week, Indian newspapers have repeatedly carried Facebook's large two-page advertisement extolling its Free Basics offering. Apparently, Facebook has also mounted a similar charm offensive about such service through large street hoardings as also YouTube posts. In India, Facebook's vigorous efforts at garnering support for its Free Basics bouquet of 'select and curated' net services being offered free to users that can't afford it, across 36 countries, seems a rearguard action to save a controversial concept with an implicit corporate agenda. That Facebook's objective in this seemingly do-good effort is to increase its already large user base in India is too obvious. Or else, why would the social-media giant want to promote free internet access and usage by more millions in India, when the country already has more than a 100 million users on Facebook - the second largest of any country in the world? As more knowledgeable writers have written extensively about violation of net-neutrality by Free Basics, I critique claims by Facebook in its newspaper ads as such assertions seem far-fetched and bombastic.India is home to a population of 1.25 billion or the second largest population of any country on earth. Six-plus decades after it became a free nation, India is still battling illiteracy, poverty and lack of sanitation and to provide clean water, medical care and shelter to significant percentage of its citizens, who still lack them. In-spite of numerous programmes and enormous expenditure by governments both at the Centre and the states often buttressed by billions of dollars of foreign aid and loans, India's human development as of 2015 is still far from ideal. Hence, Facebook stepping in to aid India's progress may seem noble and touching. As they say in their ad - "Free Basics by Facebook is a first step to connecting one billion Indians to jobs, education, and opportunities online, and ultimately a better future." One page of the ad is devoted to Facebook's rebuttal of the claims by net-neutrality activists opposed to Free Basics. Just one paragraph on the second page is devoted to the claim that the programme shall help India move forward and that supporting Free Basics is tantamount to promoting Digital Equality. The ad makes no mention how Free Basics users would increase their chances of learning, employment and other opportunities in life with limited access to the resources on the internet. In any case, there is no evidence that spending time on Facebook (which is freely accessible through Free Basics) increases one's personal capabilities or output and a better life! The ad has been worded to cleverly specify that Free Basics is a first step to connecting Indians. If Facebook does have other plans to help India those shall probably be announced in course of time and likely they shall do so after they are finished battling net neutrality activists in India. The claim of 65 million new jobs likely to be enabledby Free Basics seems highly improbable and pre-posterous as total number of employed persons in India is just 28 million and not even all governments since Independence are likely to have created 65 million jobs. Further, Facebook does not even mention how long it would take to create so many additional jobs. A limited net access programme such as Free Basic for surfing few websites is most unlikely to create jobs by millions or lead to a better life for millions of Indians. The claims of benefits of Free Basics by Facebook are in my view nothing but glib marketing and a masked corporate-agenda masquerading as social good.
Facebook's disregard of user-privacy and corporate interest in mobilising users to drive its advertising revenues are well known. Hence, Facebook should come out in the open and admit that it views all of India's 340 million internet users and 980 million mobile phone users as its potential users to drive its corporate agenda and advertising revenues. It should thus Freely share its Basic agenda with the Indian public, of wanting to socially connect millions of more Indians to use them as its revenue generators. Using a back door to lure users into its walled-garden smacks of rank opportunism and indicates a sinister effort at snaring users into its so-called social network. Indian internet activists deserve kudos for exposing Facebook's hidden motives in promoting Free Basics, which shorn of subtleties is an attempt to increase Facebook users in India. The Indian telecom regulator shall soon decide on fate of Free Basics and it is a foregone conclusion that this not at all net-neutral service shall be disallowed in India.
EDUCATE, EMPOWER, ELEVATE
Prof. Bholanath Dutta
Visionary Edupreneur, Founder & President
MTC Global: An Apex Global Advisory Body
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The views expressed are individual and not necessarily MTC Global also share the same views.
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