{"id":23167,"date":"2022-12-13T19:53:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T19:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/facebook-backs-away-from-broadband-after-years-of-clumsy-global-controversy\/"},"modified":"2022-12-13T19:53:22","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T19:53:22","slug":"facebook-backs-away-from-broadband-after-years-of-clumsy-global-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/facebook-backs-away-from-broadband-after-years-of-clumsy-global-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Backs Away From Broadband After Years Of Clumsy Global Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the growth-for-growth’s-sake<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

Last month, Facebook\/Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees<\/a> as part of the company\u2019s attempt to recover from sagging ad revenues, inflation, and Zuckerberg\u2019s clumsy, poorly executed, and widely ridiculed pivot<\/a> toward virtual and augmented reality. <\/p>\n

Buried in that announcement was the fact that Facebook had also shut down<\/a> \u201cMetaConnectivity,\u201d its decade-old attempt to shore up broadband access. The program, formerly and quite creatively known as FacebookConnectivity, had done some scattered but interesting work on things like solar-powered drones<\/a>, fiber-laying robots<\/a>, and low-Earth orbit satellites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project\u2019s goal was always purportedly to expand Internet access, but implementation made it clear that Facebook was often more interested in cornering developing nation ad markets and exerting its power internationally, using connectivity as bridge and entry point for other lobbying efforts.<\/p>\n

That was made particularly clear in India around 2015 or so<\/a>, when the department\u2019s \u201cFree Basics\u201d program attempted to provide low-income users in the global South with a free, highly restricted, Facebook-curated version of the Internet on wireless devices that at one point even banned encryption<\/a> and only included Facebook-sanctioned content partners.<\/p>\n

Activists, experts, and groups like Mozilla<\/a> routinely tore the Free Basics initiative apart as an assault on the truly open Internet and a transparent gambit to exploit connectivity to expand Facebook power and ad dominance in developing nations. Mozilla put it this way in a blog post back in 2015:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe understand the temptation to say \u2018some content is better than no content,\u2019 choosing a lesser degree of inclusion over openness and equality of opportunity. But it shouldn\u2019t be a binary choice; technology and innovation can create a better way, even though these new models may take some time to develop. Furthermore, choosing limited inclusion today, even though it offers short-term benefits, poses significant risk to the emergence of an open, competitive platform that will ultimately stifle inclusion and economic development.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Activists in countries like India eventually forced Facebook to retreat from the effort<\/a>, though its underlying mechanics did a great job exposing Facebook\u2019s altruism in the space as often half-hearted. Its rush into international communications connectivity also frequently exposed how the company prioritized international expansion over actually understanding<\/a> the impact in countries they were \u201chelping.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that Meta\/Facebook hasn\u2019t done some good things on the telecom front. Its Telecom Infra Project<\/a>, launched in 2016, was a semi-helpful engineering hub. Facebook also toyed with developing helicopters capable of delivering wireless broadband<\/a> during emergencies. And it flirted with low-Earth-orbit satellites before much of the staff were gobbled up by Amazon<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Broadband ventures aren\u2019t uncommon for tech giants. Microsoft, for example, has been a key proponent of creative uses of wireless spectrum to shore up access<\/a>. Google runs its own residential ISP to effectively shame the nation\u2019s telecom monopolies<\/a>. Like Facebook, both companies simply know that more connectivity means more people using their products and viewing their ads.<\/p>\n

But whereas Microsoft and Google\u2019s efforts were frequently truly collaborative efforts to provide true Internet access, Facebook spent the lion\u2019s share of its time trying to push a warped, Facebook-sanctioned alternative to access disguised as altruism. If you criticized the dumber aspects of the program you were labeled an enemy of the poor<\/a>. That kind of hubris wasn\u2019t received well planet wide. <\/p>\n

Free Basics was less about connection and more about providing Facebook with lobbying access to governments as the company attempted to dominate ad markets worldwide. It\u2019s unlikely Meta will want to give much of that access up, and much of this program will likely be re-integrated in other departments to help influence Zuck\u2019s clunky vision of the metaverse down the road. <\/p>\n

\nFiled Under: broadband<\/a>, broadband access<\/a>, digital divide<\/a>, free basics<\/a>, high speed internet<\/a>, meta<\/a>, metaverse<\/a>, telecom<\/a>, zero rating<\/a>
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Companies: facebook<\/a>, meta<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n