After starting a campaign asking its Indian users to support its Free Basics campaign, Facebook on Monday tried to get users in the United States to sign it as well. In a statement, the company later said that the notification to support the campaign was an accident outside of India.
The campaign itself has been termed misleading within India and has come under heavy criticism for its fine print. While Free Basics, initially called Internet.org, campaigns for the use of free Internet for the poor in India, it is only for a few Internet services, which includes Facebook. Free Basics does not include the entire Internet for free, which violates net neutrality, according to which all content online must be treated equally.
The campaign in India is likely to set a precedent in other countries such as Brazil, which is a reason for the heavy opposition. There will be a public hearing on the issue of net neutrality in January 2016.
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