Today, Mark Zuckerberg wrote an OP-ed in The Times of India. I found his use of Nationalistic sentiments to push his agenda very concerning. I must say that I have lost every bit of respect that I might have had for this man. I would not have felt this way, if he had been honest about what they were doing.

We have collections of free basic books. They’re called libraries. They don’t contain every book, but they still provide a world of good. We have free basic healthcare. Public hospitals don’t offer every treatment, but they still save lives. We have free basic education. Every child deserves to go to school.

Mark seems to compare Government services with Free Basics. Then why doesn’t he let the Government handle the selection of those services? Why should the power to select or reject an app lie with Facebook?

India is not a poor country; The Government has more than enough resources to provide all government online services for free, like they already did with All India Radio and Doordarshan at different points of time.

We know that when people have access to the internet they also get access to jobs, education, healthcare, communication. We know that for every 10 people connected to the internet, roughly one is lifted out of poverty. We know that for India to make progress, more than 1 billion people need to be connected to the internet. That’s not theory. That’s fact. Another fact — when people have access to free basic internet services, these quickly overcome the digital divide.

Mark simply makes these claims, without supporting any of these with facts. He then says *That’s fact*. He wants us to take his word for gospel. India doesn’t have 1 Billion mobile users and India’s number of internet users is already growing. India will overcome the digital divide, even without Free Basics.

And half the people who use Free Basics to go online for the first time pay to access the full internet within 30 days. So the data is clear. Free Basics is a bridge to the full internet and digital equality. Data from more than five years of other programs that offer free access to Facebook, WhatsApp and other services shows the same.

Again, We have to take his word as gospel. No Facts to support his claim. If so many people end up buying internet pack, why don’t the telecom companies give a month of data free to people who have never bought data?

If we accept that everyone deserves access to the internet, then we must surely support free basic internet services.

Completely unrelated things. Ironically, It is Free basics that stands in between people and the internet.

Instead of wanting to give people access to some basic internet services for free, critics of the program continue to spread false claims — even if that means leaving behind a billion people.

What false claims does he speak of? That the critics were spreading false claim is a false claim and guess who is spreading it? Mark. Include that to an array of other dubious claims like “9 out of 10 Net neutrality activists support Free Basics”.

Net neutrality activists, unlike Mark here, always support their arguments with facts.

Instead of recognizing that Free Basics fully respects net neutrality, they claim — falsely — the exact opposite.

Sure, Free Basics protects net neutrality, like thugs “protecting” shops in the market.

A few months ago I learned about a farmer in Maharashtra called Ganesh.

Anecdotal. We do not know if Ganesh had Internet access prior to Free Basics. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that Ganesh is a real person. How did Mark learn of Ganesh? Did Ganesh take the effort to contact Facebook’s office to tell them that his crop yields increased because of Free Basics? How did he know to do that, given he didn’t have access to Internet a month ago..?

or Could it be that Facebook simply made up the whole story up just to further their agenda? The proposition with fewer assumptions is always more likely to be true.

This isn’t about Facebook’s commercial interests — there aren’t even any ads in the version of Facebook in Free Basics. If people lose access to free basic services they will simply lose access to the opportunities offered by the internet today.

Complete Bullshit. It most definitely is about Facebook’s commercial interests. Facebook needs data from the untapped Indian market so that they can sell the Indians targeted ads in a few years, when India gets access to the actual Internet. Facebook is simply trying to outmaneuver their only other competitor who’s selling ads.

How does Ganesh being able to better tend his crops hurt the internet?

It doesn’t. We never said it does. Mark’s simply begging the question.

We’ve heard legitimate concerns in the past, and we’ve quickly addressed those.

Yes. They changed the name from Internet.org to “Free Basics”

There’s no valid basis for denying people the choice to use Free Basics, and that’s what thousands of people across India have chosen to tell TRAI over the last few weeks.

Choose facts over false claims. Everyone deserves access to the internet.

Yes, my fellow Indians. Everybody deserves access to the internet. Most Indians will have internet access in a few years anyway, with or without free basics.

Free basics gives Facebook the control to sway public opinion of a larger portion of the population on any matter. Imagine what that would mean for our democracy. If they can make you believe that Free basics is about the people and not facebook’s expansion, imagine the power they get in this country.

Free basics gives Facebook the control to choose which startups live and which startups die: because even though they say their platform is open to join, any startup that doesn’t meet their *requirements* would be outmaneuvered by competitors who do and will cease to exist. Since the apps that are part of Free basics must abide by the Facebook Terms and conditions, which they also have the power to change at anytime they like, they can technically kick any app out of free basics. Remember what Twitter did with Meerkat?

Fellow Indians, Let’s not let these fake philanthropists turn our nationalistic sentiments against us. Let’s not let them exploit Indian market. Let’s not let them decide the fate of Indian start-up scene.

Facebook doesn’t care about the poor. This is East India Company all over again, except they used billboards and advertisements instead of guns.

Free Basics must not succeed. Not at the cost of Indian economy.