Egypt closes free Facebook service



    According to The Verge, Egypt became the second country to close the free Internet service Facebook - India did the same last week. The Free Basics service is part of an Facebook-sponsored initiative called Internet.org, designed to make the Internet more accessible in developing countries. Some internet activists believe this initiative violates the principles of network neutrality by creating a “walled garden” that gives priority to certain sites, as Free Basics provides free access to Facebook and a certain number of other non-Facebook websites.

    A Facebook partner in Egypt, Etisalat Egypt, a telecommunications service provider, began providing Free Basics two months ago, and according to Facebook, more than 3 million people have signed up for the service in the country over this short period. The company also claims that out of these 3 million people, 1 million users got access to the Internet for the first time. “We are very disappointed that Free Basics will no longer be available in Egypt,” Facebook representatives commented on the situation. However, the company hopes to "resolve these problems soon." It remains unclear whether the telecom operator Etisalat Egypt, for its part, will block the service.

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously tried to make clear that Free Basics does not violate what Zuckerberg himself believes is network neutrality. According to the founder of the popular social network, the service does not violate the rules of the open Internet, as it gives free access to certain websites, and does not charge various fees for viewing them.

    “Instead of gladly accepting Free Basics as an open platform that can partner with any telecommunications company and allow any developer to offer their services to people for free, they claim, guided by false principles, that this will limit the choice of people,” said Zuckerberg, when last week the service was closed in India. "Instead of admitting that Free Basics fully respects network neutrality, they claim the opposite, guided by false principles."

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