Early this year saw an unexpected victory for Indian activists. An unlikely group of free-software, net-neutrality and leftist activists stopped Facebook – one of the most powerful Silicon Valley giants – from introducing its Free Basics platform in India.
Free Basics, which has already been successfully introduced in 37 countries, offers a few websites for free, while barring the rest of the internet. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) backed the activists, arguing that the Free Basics platform, offered by a handful of telecom companies (telcos) partnering with Facebook, is discriminatory and against the interests of subscribers.
