Facebook 'Free Basics' service frozen in Egypt

Facebook's “Free Basics” service - which bundles together the Social NetworkTM's pick of news, weather and health apps and delivers it via UAE telecoms giant Etisalat to millions of Egyptians - has been shuttered in the land of pyramids. The giant ad platform told the Associated Press it hopes to "resolve the problem soon." " …

[The Man Who Fell To Earth]

Yea, sure

Of course it has nothing to do with Facebook's commercial interests. Just like China's Great Firewall is for the protection of the Chinese people.

[Your alien overlord - fear me]

Er, when there's trouble in the land of Pharohs, the first thing to go is Facebook (and Twitter etc).

I suspect a new Arab Rising.....

[dotdavid]

"Free Basics? Ahhhh sorry I thought you were saying free speech"

[John Brown (no body)]

This isn't about Facebook's commercial interests - there aren't even any ads

Yet...

Embrace, extend....

[Zarno]

People seem to forget

That all of that traffic is funneled through their servers, and they still sell the viewing/browsing/etc info that they collect.

[MachDiamond]

Re: People seem to forget

People seem to forget that even the Zuck public stated (before going public) that the reason FB exists is to collect personal information, package and sell it. FB makes money from ads and apps, but the lion share of their income is derived from BIG DATA. Their financial filings are public and it's not hard to dig out the information. Be afraid.

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

"This isn't about Facebook's commercial interests ..."

Well, I bet his shareholders are delighted to hear this.

[ZenCoder]

No Ad's?

If you have a group on facebook, your content doesn't just pop up in people who like/belong to your groups timeline, you get to pay money "boost" the number of people who are exposed to your content.

The same with promotional product placement in movies and video games.

While you could very well argue these are not "ads", they are definitely advertising.

[TeeCee]

This isn't about Facebook's commercial interests...

Of course not. I mean that could only be true if Zuckerbitch was all about signing up as many people as possible regardless of cost...........ah.........hang on.........

I sometimes wonder if the true purpose of the internet is to provide a platform for Facebum and Tw@ter to hold their subscriptions willy-waving contest on.

[Mark 85]

Maybe the problem is simples...

To many users... err... products.. linking to the Bangles "Walk like an Egyptian"....

[Danny 2]

I don't hate it

I think Egypt probably banned it because they want to keep their poor ignorant, given the major news site on it is the BBC outside of their police state control. I'm no fan of Facebook, or the BBC for that matter, but partial internet access is far better than no internet access and I'm glad the BBC took part. It probably reaches as many people as the World Service for virtually no cost. There are some useful websites on it that are making a real difference to it's users.