4 ms·

Somewhat related, last month there was an 'antitrust and competition conference' at chicago booth school of business, and their videos came up last weekend. ht

Somewhat related, last month there was an 'antitrust and competition conference' at chicago booth school of business, and their videos came up last weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu9q5fb6MO0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu9q5fb6MO0 is one of the panel videos with some interesting arguments: FB's free basics implementation in Brazil is free for facebook-owned properties (e.g. whatsapp), but not for general website usage. Claire Wardle argues this creates a problem where free basic internet users are less motivated to fact-check things ( https://youtu.be/Wu9q5fb6MO0?t=1231 https://youtu.be/Wu9q5fb6MO0?t=1231 , specifically https://youtu.be/Wu9q5fb6MO0?t=1340 https://youtu.be/Wu9q5fb6MO0?t=1340). Barry Lynn of Open Markets had an interesting quote I'm still trying to think about - https://youtu.be/Wu9q5fb6MO0?t=2523 https://youtu.be/Wu9q5fb6MO0?t=2523 - "The issue is not that the price is free, the issue is the price is imposed outside the market. The issue that price is a function not of competition, but a tool of power. Without a public price, you don't have a public. Without a public, you can't protect democracy."

bduerst 7y ago
Facebook Free basics also suffers the Tom's Shoes problem [1] - basically by giving away the free service in a developing country, it kills the local economy for the same service and sets it back, not forwards. By saturating the ISP market, Facebook is hindering ISP development in Brazil. This would be less of a problem if Facebook offered net neutral internet service but they're not - FB is only offering free access to theirs and a handful of partners websites. It's charity message of bringing "free internet to people who don't have it" is a red herring to the problems it presents. [1] https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/one-one-business-model-social-impact-avoiding-unintended-consequences/ https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/one-one-business...
- z3t4 7y ago
  It's probably Hanlon's razor. But if FB have altruistic motives they should only offer their service where no commercial alternatives exist.
  - zrobotics 7y ago
    If they were motivated by altruism, wouldn't they offer full web access instead of limiting it to Facebook & Wikipedia? What motivates them is finding their next billion users in any way possible.
  - Crosseye_Jack 7y ago
    But wouldn’t that also be a factor for an service starting up in a region after Facebook enters. Forgetting that FB is so large that starting a completing service is a hard enough battle by itself, now you got to sign a deal to get at least a low rate if not 0 rate deal with the cell providers.

bduerst 7y ago

Facebook Free basics also suffers the Tom's Shoes problem [1] - basically by giving away the free service in a developing country, it kills the local economy for the same service and sets it back, not forwards. By saturating the ISP market, Facebook is hindering ISP development in Brazil. This would be less of a problem if Facebook offered net neutral internet service but they're not - FB is only offering free access to theirs and a handful of partners websites. It's charity message of bringing "free internet to people who don't have it" is a red herring to the problems it presents. [1] https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/one-one-business-model-social-impact-avoiding-unintended-consequences/ https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/one-one-business...

z3t4 7y ago
It's probably Hanlon's razor. But if FB have altruistic motives they should only offer their service where no commercial alternatives exist.
- zrobotics 7y ago
  If they were motivated by altruism, wouldn't they offer full web access instead of limiting it to Facebook & Wikipedia? What motivates them is finding their next billion users in any way possible.
- Crosseye_Jack 7y ago
  But wouldn’t that also be a factor for an service starting up in a region after Facebook enters. Forgetting that FB is so large that starting a completing service is a hard enough battle by itself, now you got to sign a deal to get at least a low rate if not 0 rate deal with the cell providers.