Facebook has been running its non-profit Internet.org, for months, trying to help lower-income companies gain basic access to certain parts of the internet for social and business reasons. However, some Indian companies pulled out of the endeavor last month because they feared that having a tech giant like Facebook funding a basic internet connection would cause the connection to provide a faster connection to Facebook than other sites.
That's why Facebook is opening up the Internet.org endeavor to developers. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has consistently said that he doesn't want Internet.org to break down India's net neutrality. That's why he expressed the need for Internet.org to be fully transparent during the announcement. "Our goal with Internet.org is to work with as many developers and entrepreneurs as possible to extend the benefits of connectivity to diverse, local communities......To do this, we're going to offer services through Internet.org in a way that's more transparent and inclusive," he said.
Facebook's decision to be open and transparent about the endeavor could help alleviate worries that Indian net neutrality advocates had about the project. In an interview with Scroll.in, Facebook's vice president of product Chris Daniels revealed how the net neutrality debate has changed Internet.org.
"We always wanted to provide more basic services as part of Internet.org. It was part of our long-term roadmap," Daniels said. "The debate here certainly accelerated our plans. The debate also gave us an opportunity to go to all the constituents of the debate and hear how they see Internet.org, the benefits they see from it and the concerns people have about it."
In regard to whether Internet.org is a violation of the principle of net neutrality, Daniels dismissed the claims, saying, "I don't believe that Internet.org is a violation of net neutrality. I believe that that [sic] programmes that bring more people online must co-exist with net neutrality. We agree with the principles of net neutrality - that there shouldn't be fast lanes, throttling, etcetera."
Internet.org is currently providing eight million people in nine different countries with free basic internet.
