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TORONTO — As thousands wander the streets vying to catch virtual monsters, the Pokémon GO app itself has gotten snagged in Canada’s mounting net neutrality debate.

Net neutrality advocates are crying foul after U.S. carrier T-Mobile decided to exempt data charges for Pokémon GO, the insanely popular game that doubled Nintendo’s value to more than US$40 billion in just a few weeks. Called zero rating, this practice lets people spend unlimited time chasing cyber creatures in the real world without worrying about extra fees for exceeding wireless data caps.

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No Canadian providers have offered such a deal – yet – but OpenMedia spokesman David Christopher said open Internet advocates north of the border are monitoring the situation as Canada’s telecom regulator prepares for a public hearing on differential pricing tactics this fall.

Consumer advocates argue zero rating schemes let carriers give certain content an advantage by luring customers with the promise of free data. This impedes the ability to compete on merit and gives carriers an excuse to maintain low data caps, Christopher said.