Facebook’s Internet.org project has been under severe criticism across several countries. It has gained a lot of negative publicity in the neighboring country owing to the conflict with net neutrality. What is Internet.org, then? It is an initiative of Facebook in which a few selected websites and mobile applications are made freely available to the users.
Facebook is partnering with one of the leading telecom providers in Pakistan, Telenor, to launch the internet.org initiative in the country tomorrow. The high management of Telenor and Facebook will make the deal official at tomorrow’s event.
See also: Net Neutrality is a much bigger issue than Cyber Crime
Pakistan is going to be the 7th country getting Internet.org, whereas, Facebook plans to reach over a 100 countries at the end of this year. However, it should be noted that Facebook has not made any exclusive agreement with Telenor. We may see other telco companies joining this initiative very soon but of course, they have to fulfill specific rules and requirements. Meanwhile, Telenor users can browse up to 20 websites free of charge.
The only concern on Internet.org is net neutrality, the guiding principle to the preservation of a free and open internet. Facebook is making an ecosystem of freely available application of its own which means that other organizations will have to give in.
Internet activists have severely panned the internet.org project and termed it a contravention of net neutrality rules. In a letter penned to Mark Zuckerburg on the 18th of May, signed by 65 internet advocacy groups voiced their concerns over violations of the open nature of the internet by the internet.org project.
Well, Telenor will attract millions of customers both towards the Internet and its own network after signing this deal.
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Image: Wikipedia
