• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 8, 2016

Call it a campaign for world domination or a selfless effort to connect the world through the Web, Facebook’s Free Basics initiative has suffered a major setback.

As part of a ruling in favor of Net neutrality, Indian telecom regulators have decided to block Facebook’s Free Basics Web service.

The move makes good on a threat issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India -- an independent regulator of the country’s telecom industry -- late last year. In it, the regulator said it wanted to have Free Basics suspended over concerns that the program violates net neutrality principles by giving people incentives to use certain Web services over others.

Critics of Facebook’s program applauded the move, on Monday.

“Today’s decision is a major victory for free speech and for Internet users everywhere, no matter what Mark Zuckerberg’s well-paid public relations team might tell you,” stated Evan Greer, campaign director for U.S.-based digital rights group Fight for the Future.

Late last year, Egyptian authorities also pulled the plug on the free Internet service for reasons that they never fully articulated.

Last May, meanwhile, nearly 70 advocacy groups released a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressing their opposition to the program.

Formerly known to the world as Internet.org, Free Basics offers broadband access to cellphone users in developing countries, but only lets them visit certain sites -- including Facebook -- for free. As such, critics have accused the social giant of using the service to expand its own footprint, while circumventing the principals of Net neutrality. 

Key to Facebook’s long-term strategy, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly defended the Free Basics program.

In a letter published in the Times of India, last December, Zuckerberg wrote: “If we accept that everyone deserves access to the Internet, then we must surely support free basic Internet services.”

In his letter, the young CEO likened free basic to public libraries. “They don’t contain every book, but they still provide a world of good.”