Earlier, last Saturday, Mark Zuckerberg officially introduced the colour filter— which merges the display picture with the tricolor from India’s flag — by changing his profile picture. The change happened ahead of his meeting with the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi . He also said he supports India’s initiative to make sure that Internet reaches even the far corners of the country and the poorest of its sections. This gesture was immediately welcomed by Facebook users of Indian origin across the world.
Meanwhile, tech experts who checked the source code that runs behind the new colour filter allege that Digital India is just a front to support Mark Zuckerberg’s Internet.org. A part of the source code reads, “_internetOrgProfilePicture__prideAvatar”, which as of now has nothing to do with Digital India initiative.
Internet.org, according to Facebook is a project to create free internet access. However, experts in the field say it is also the introduction of sellable and controllable segments within the Internet. The free package of Internet.org would contain less than 50 websites that only Facebook approves. The paid section meanwhile would be controlled based on speed and restrictive niches. This will largely curtail freedom of speech, as services like blogging has little chance of reaching the multitudes.
Digital India, meanwhile, was launched with the aim of empowering the people of India digitally and to bring big investments in the technology sector.
Skeptics who have been watching the Narendra Modi government’s many recent decisions — that curtail the freedom of speech and personal choices in India — immediately accused the FB founder and prime minister of holding hands to curtail the nation’s freedom of net neutrality.
Dipu James, an Edmontonian of East Indian origin, says many are adopting the stand without knowing the seriousness of the situation.
“When gay rights freedom was celebrated by Facebook, many in India adopted the rainbow colour filter not because they knew what they were supporting, but mostly because they have no idea about it. They thought it was the new fad and copied what their friends have done. In a similar manner, most people think adopting the colour filter means that they support the Digital India initiative. In actuality, they are supporting the Internet.org project of Facebook that if launched will kill Internet freedom in India,” he said.
