himprak

Putting Facebook in the same category as Rotary, NGOs, research institutes and the remaining long list you mention cannot be a more flawed analogy.

In any case, you seem to be missing the bigger point here - it's not about whether FB is promoting this today for maximizing profit or not, it's about promoting the re-modelling of the internet where information flow is controlled by FB.

It's not a problem in US doesn't mean the initiative will not be welcomed there. Toll free phone numbers exist and are used extensively in the US, Free Basics can work on similar lines. Obviously, introducing the initiative will raise questions on violation of net neutrality.

The basic assumption here is state looks after matters of social welfare and private organizations look after maximizing profit. Free Basics is being touted as a service for public good, but is coming from a private organization - that makes it a non-starter. This would have been more trustworthy had this been an initiative of the Indian government. There would still be concerns of furthering Government's agenda (blind obedience), but in that case there is a bigger problem and elections every 5 years facilitates corrective action. FB cannot be voted out.

Indian politics has trained people well to see through Zuck's strategy and his TOI article only exposes his immaturity about what works/doesn't work in India.

It's not difficult for people to understand this initiative violates net neutrality and is an attempt to create a "separate internet" where budding entrepreneurs/content providers have no choice but to pay Zuck to be onboarded. This is akin to license raj (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_Raj) that was demolished way back in the 90s.