Facebook's Internet.org faces growing attacks

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook wants to bring the Internet to the world.

But it will have to surmount a growing backlash first.

Community groups around the globe are challenging the expansion of Internet.org, a mobile app whose stated goal is to give Internet access to the two-thirds of the world not yet connected to it.

The groups fired off an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week accusing Internet.org of creating a "two-tiered" Internet "in which the world's poorest people will only be able to access a limited set of insecure websites and services."

The letter comes on the heels of mass protests in India, in which more than 1 million people signed a petition asking their country's telecommunications authority to ban Internet.org. A group of Indian technology companies pulled out of Internet.org in April, claiming it threatened "net neutrality," the principle that all data should be treated equally.

With the Internet.org app, telecommunications companies pick up the tab for people to have access to a limited set of Internet services. Those services include basic health, employment and education information as well as Facebook.

By selecting which services will be offered without incurring data charges, Internet.org violates net neutrality, activists allege. Activists are objecting to Internet.org's use of "zero rating," offering consumers a specific set of apps that are free or that don't cost them data.

"This practice is inherently discriminatory — which is why it has been banned or restricted in countries such as Canada, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Chile," the letter reads. "These agreements endanger freedom of expression and equality of opportunity by letting service providers decide which Internet services will be privileged over others, thus interfering with the free flow of information and people's rights vis-a-vis networks."

Internet.org recently invited more organizations to offer their services through the initiative. Facebook is one of the founding members of Internet.org. Other members include Ericsson, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung.

In an emailed statement, Facebook spokeswoman Saman Asheer said: "We and our critics share a common vision of helping more people gain access to the broadest possible range of experiences and services on the internet. We are convinced that as more and more people gain access to the internet, they will see the benefits and want to use even more services. We believe this so strongly that we have worked with operators to offer basic services to people at no charge, convinced that new users will quickly want to move beyond basic services and pay for more diverse, valuable services."

In a town-hall style discussion held last week at Facebook's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, Zuckerberg did not address the controversy but spoke about Facebook's responsibility to "connect everyone in the world."

"We are trying to help everyone in the world get on the Internet," Zuckerberg said. "More than 4 billion, the majority of people in the world, don't have any access."

So far, Internet.org has encouraged 9 million people to use the Internet for the first time, he said.