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Facebook's Free Walled-Garden Internet Program Ended Quietly in Myanmar, Several Other Places Last Year (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader shares a TechCrunch report: As recently as last week, Facebook was touting the growth of Free Basics, its Internet.org project designed to give users free curated web access in developing countries, but the app isn't working out everywhere. As the Outline originally reported and TechCrunch confirmed, the Free Basics program has ended in Myanmar, perhaps Facebook's most controversial non-Western market at the moment.
Myanmar is not the only place where Free Basics has quietly ended. The program has been abruptly called off in more than half a dozen nations and territories in the recent months, according to an analysis by The Outline. People in Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Congo, Anguilla, El Salvador, and Saint Lucia have also lost access to Facebook's free internet program. Additionally, Facebook was testing Free Basics service in Zimbabwe in mid-2016 in partnership with local telecom operator Telecel. The test program has yet to materialize into a wider roll-out.
Myanmar is not the only place where Free Basics has quietly ended. The program has been abruptly called off in more than half a dozen nations and territories in the recent months, according to an analysis by The Outline. People in Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Congo, Anguilla, El Salvador, and Saint Lucia have also lost access to Facebook's free internet program. Additionally, Facebook was testing Free Basics service in Zimbabwe in mid-2016 in partnership with local telecom operator Telecel. The test program has yet to materialize into a wider roll-out.
It was only free if we could exploit them. But they are all poor and have no value to advertisers, so we ended it.
The thing presumes quite a lot. That "the internet" equals "the world-wide web", and that it's okay to strip that down to just a few websites (ie teh zuck's imperium plus paying "friends"), then give access to that and only that "for free" to people presumed to have no alternative. As if that's a good thing. Syeah right.
This thing is really indefensible, certainly when touted as "internet.org". So I'm not at all unhappy to see it vanish. Where is this pox still active? The only question of interest afterward is whether the sick fuck that came up with this will manage to come up with something even more pretentious and worse.
But it'll always be Burma to me.
#DeleteChrome
This was free to poor people and non poor people would have to pay? Boo hoo hoo!
Facebook can shut these things down for a number of reasons.
But what was the impact? Did the people use it? Did they like it? What did they use it for? Has anyone simply asked these people their thoughts and views of the program?
I know actually talking to the poor people of Myanmar isn't the most popular thing. But it'd be insightful and... hey, it'd be easy... if they had Internet access....
I'd also like to know how much it cost, how much Facebook got paid in advertising, and what all they gained from it. Apparently not enough, but come on, if this is a social experiement, turn it into social SCIENCE by publishing the results.
It turns out it really is just we Americans that are stupid enough to embrace Facebook's 'AOL, now with privacy raping!' vision of the future no matter how many times it's publicly pointed out that they are sociopathic crooks. Sad, but not surprising. And that IS sad.
When I was growing up in an underdeveloped country, I would have loved to have access to just Facebook. Keep in touch with family, participate in communities, maybe get information relevant to my life or help with school from volunteers? Bring it on! Sure I would prefer to also have bittorent and CNN. But these would probably be outside our family budget.
Sounds like a bunch of demagogues ruined a good thing as usual.