The controversial Facebook Free Basics is set to extend its reach to the American market. The social network administrators are taking these free services to the United States population.
In a Washington Post report, it has been uncovered that Facebook had engaged in private conversations with the U.S. government and some wireless service providers about bringing this program into the country. These secret talks were done to avoid criticisms and scrutiny from bashers. They must have already learned from their experience in other countries.
What is Free Basics? It is a software app that provides people access to some Facebook services without any cost. It is a free service offered by Facebook itself.
It was a philanthropic intention which motivated the company to create this service. Facebook wanted to make the social network available not only to the rich but also the most underprivileged members of society. However, it has been duly criticized for using a charitable cause to leverage their business.
Those who fight for online equality strongly suggest that ISP’s must not be allowed to decide which services should be included in the free service. Their reason is that those low – profile software developers don’t have an edge against the big-shot wireless carriers which is obviously unfair. Because of this conflict, the Free Basics had been banned in India.
In response to this issue, Facebook updated the scope of the program permitting any company to offer their content or service. These companies only need to make sure that their software is compatible with the app.
The United States would have its own version of the Free Basics program. Although, it still is geared towards the poor. It aims to provide this service to rural areas where people are unable to get high-speed Internet connection. Facebook will partner with mobile operators in this endeavor.
The updated program is still not spared from criticism even after these changes. Timothy Karr explains what the Free Basics is all about. He reiterated that this is not the entire Internet but simply an app that enables one to access some online services which are available on the Internet.
Millions of users are now using Facebook Free Basics in spite of the many contradictions. It has been made available to many African countries just recently. Additionally, Facebook is going the extra mile to provide better service using unique infrastructure and technologies.
Overall, Facebook remains firm in its mission of connecting the world and they are always working to find new ways to accomplish that.
