Free Basics by Facebook shut down in Egypt

Free Basics which is a part of the Internet.org initiative offers certain free basic internet services to people in developing countries has been shut down in Egypt lately.

This happened just a week after the service was temporarily closed by regulators in India. Free Basic services was launched in Egypt two months ago by mobile network Etisalat.

Though it has been unclear why the service has been shut down. Undeniably, social media especially Facebook had played a major role in organising the Arab Spring which ousted former President Hosni Mubarak. Some people have been averse to this service for the simple reason that it poses a threat to net neutrality.

In India also, internet users, regulators and tech entrepreneurs had raise their voice against Free Basics on the grounds that Facebook's limits on what internet services users could access was an assault on the principle that internet service providers should treat all users the same.

The massive opposition from people in India led to Facebook launching a large public relations campaign in the country. Mark Zuckerberg had written a newspaper editorial as part under the  campaign in defence of the service and encourage users to save Free Basics by emailing the telecoms regulator.