Free Basics’ site-selection power triggered India’s net neutrality ban

Evidence

By partnering with local telecom providers, Free Basics offered free access to a limited set of low-bandwidth websites—most notably, Facebook. But the initiative sparked controversy, as Facebook’s ability to choose the accessible sites violated the principles of net neutrality. India’s regulators banned Free Basics in 2016. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 497

Categorization

• QUESTION: How did the Free Basics ban shape later Indian internet policy and the rise of non-Western platforms? Did regulators’ skepticism carry forward?
• XREF: Connects to the ‘omnivore monoculture’ thesis — Facebook as the universal cultural intermediary that collapses local difference, initially resisted by India’s regulators.