&gt;The proper framing for this is &quot;Facebook installing themselves as a middleman that can control and monitor all data access with de facto monopoly power to hinder future competitors&quot; vs &quot;letting the local people develop their own internet on their own terms&quot;.<p>While that&#x27;s a fundamental believe in the anti-free-basics mindset, it&#x27;s faulty.
Facebook isn&#x27;t stopping anyone from providing internet access anywhere. And they certainly don&#x27;t gain this power by providing free basics. People having access to Facebook will still want to connect to the internet. Those people are not spectacularly different from us.<p>By taking the time to analyze the consequences, many would probably notice that some of the anti free basics arguments are rather sloppy.