Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has defended the aims of his Internet.org initiative after several Indian firms have decided to pull out of the project. At the heart of the row is Internet.org’s policy of “zero-rating”, whereby telecoms providers agree not to pass on the costs of handling the data traffic so that consumers can receive services for free.Critics argue this has a distorting effect on competition, making it difficult for publishers not signed up to Internet.org to reach the hundreds of millions of poorer people in developing economies who have no internet access at all.But Facebook disagrees, pointing out that joining Internet.org is free for web publishers and app providers.
Zuckerberg defends Internet.org
