research-article

Inside the Walled Garden: Deconstructing Facebook's Free Basics Program

Authors:

Amreesh Phokeer,

Zaid Ahmed Farooq,

Ihsan Ayyub Qazi,

David Choffnes,

Krishna P. GummadiAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, Volume 47, Issue 5

Pages 12 - 24

https://doi.org/10.1145/3155055.3155058

Published: 25 October 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Free Basics is a Facebook initiative to provide zero-rated web services in developing countries. The program has grown rapidly to 60+ countries in the past two years. But it has also seen strong opposition from Internet activists and has been banned in some countries like India. Facebook highlights the societal benefits of providing low-income populations with free Internet access, while detractors point to concerns about privacy and network neutrality.

In this paper, we provide the first independent analysis of such claims regarding the Free Basics service, using both the perspective of a Free Basics service provider and of web clients visiting the service via cellular phones providing access to Free Basics in Pakistan and South Africa.

Specifically, with control of both endpoints, we not only provide a more detailed view of how the Free Basics service is architected, but also can isolate the likely causes of network performance impairments. Our analysis reveals that Free Basics services experience 4 to 12 times worse network performance than their paid counterparts. We isolate the root causes using factors such as network path inflation and throttling policies by Facebook and telecom service providers.

The Free Basics service and its restrictions are designed with assumptions about users' device capabilities (e.g., lack of JavaScript support). To evaluate such assumptions, we infer the types of mobile devices that generated 47K unique visitors to our Free Basics services between Sep 2016 and Jan 2017. We find that there are large numbers of requests from constrained WAP browsers, but also large fractions of high-capability mobile phones that send Free Basics requests.

We discuss the implications of our observations, with the hope to aid more informed debates on such telecom policies.

References

[1]

Brought more than 25 million people online who wouldn't be otherwise. https://info.internet.org/en/blog/2016/05/10/announcing-the-launch-of-free-basics-in-nigeria/.

[2]

Digital divide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide.

[3]

Facebook lures africa with free internet - but what is the hidden cost? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/01/facebook-free-basics-internet-africa-mark-zuckerberg.

[4]

Facebook's free basics service has been banned in india. http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/8/10913398/free-basics-india-regulator-ruling.

[5]

Free basics by facebook - android apps on google play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.internet&hl=en.

[6]

Free basics: Creating digital equality or divide? watch at 5:56 or 6:13 minutes for net neutrality concerns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpO31LqNUM.

[7]

Free basics: Creating digital equality or divide? watch at 8:03 or 17:08 minutes for privacy concerns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpO31LqNUM.

[8]

How to submit - free basics. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internet-org/how-to-submit.

[9]

The impacts of emerging mobile data services in developing countries. http://a4ai.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/MeasuringImpactsofMobileDataServices_ResearchBrief2.pdf.

[10]

internet.org by facebook. https://info.internet.org/en/.

[11]

Mobile phone database from imei info. http://www.imei.info/.

[12]

Opening internet.org and free basics: An open letter to facebook. https://openmedia.org/sites/default/files/openmedia-facebook-freebasicsletter.pdf.

[13]

Prohibition of discriminatory tariff for data services regulations, 2016. http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/WhatsNew/Documents/Regulation_Data_Service.pdf.

[14]

Technical guidelines - free basics. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internet-org/platform-technical-guidelines.

[15]

Where we've launched - internet.org. https://info.internet.org/en/story/where-weve-launched/.

[16]

World databank. http://databank.worldbank.org/data/.

[17]

Wurfl device detection and intelligence. http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/.

[18]

S. Ahmad, A. L. Haamid, Z. A. Qazi, Z. Zhou, T. Benson, and I. A. Qazi. A view from the other side: Understanding mobile phone characteristics in the developing world. In Proceedings of the 16th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC), 2016.

Digital Library

[19]

A. Anand, V. Pejovic, E. M. Belding, and D. L. Johnson. Villagecell: Cost effective cellular connectivity in rural areas. In ICTD, 2012.

Digital Library

[20]

Z. S. Bischof, J. P. Rula, and F. E. Bustamante. In and out of cuba: Characterizing cuba's connectivity. In IMC, 2015.

Digital Library

[21]

A. Chen, N. Feamster, and E. Calandro. Exploring the walled garden theory: An empirical framework to assess pricing effects on mobile data usage. In Communications Policy Research South (CPRSouth), 2016.

[22]

A. Dhananjay, A. Sharma, M. Paik, J. Chen, T. K. Kuppusamy, J. Li, and L. Subramanian. Hermes: Data transmission over unknown voice channels. In MobiCom, 2010.

Digital Library

[23]

A. Gurumurthy and N. Chami. Internet governance as 'ideology in practice' - india's 'free basics' controversy. Journal on Internet Regulation, 2016.

[24]

A. M. Kakhki, A. Razaghpanah, H. Koo, A. Li, R. Golani, D. Choffnes, P. Gill, and A. Mislove. Identifying traffic differentiation in mobile networks. In Proceedings of the 15th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC), 2015.

[25]

A. Mathur, S. Agarwal, and S. Jaiswal. Exploring playback and recording of web-based audio media on low-end feature phones. In ACM DEV, 2013.

Digital Library

[26]

R. Patra, S. Nedevschi, S. Surana, A. Sheth, L. Subramanian, and E. Brewer. Wildnet: Design and implementation of high performance wifi based long distance networks. In NSDI, 2007.

Digital Library

[27]

A. A. Raza, M. Pervaiz, C. Milo, S. Razaq, G. Alster, J. Sherwani, U. Saif, and R. Rosenfeld. Viral entertainment as a vehicle for disseminating speech-based services to low-literate users. In ICTD, 2012.

Digital Library

[28]

R. Sen, H. A. Pirzada, A. Phokeer, Z. A. Farooq, S. Sengupta, D. Choffnes, and K. P. Gummadi. On the free bridge across the digital divide: Assessing the quality of facebook's free basics service. In Proceedings of the 16th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC), 2016.

Digital Library

[29]

A. Sharma, M. Kaur, Z. Koradia, R. Nishant, S. Pandit, A. Raman, and A. Seth. Revisiting the state of cellular data connectivity in india. In DEV, 2015.

Digital Library

[30]

S. Singh, V. Nanda, R. Sen, S. Sengupta, P. Kumaragoru, and K. P. Gummadi. Leveraging facebook's free basics engine for web service deployment in developing regions. In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development(ICTD), 2017.

Digital Library

[31]

S. F. Sultan, H. Humayun, U. Nadeem, Z. K. Bhatti, and S. Khan. Mobile phone price as a proxy for socio-economic indicators. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD), 2015.

[32]

X. S. Wang, A. Krishnamurthy, and D. Wetherall. Speeding up web page loads with shandian. In NSDI, 2016.

Digital Library

[33]

X. Xu, Y. Jiang, T. Flach1, E. Katz-Bassett, D. Choffnes, and R. Govindan. Investigating transparent web proxies in cellular networks. In Passive and Active Measurement Conference (PAM), 2015.

[34]

Y. Zaki, J. Chen, T. Pötsch, T. Ahmad, and L. Subramanian. Dissecting web latency in ghana. In IMC, 2014.

Digital Library

Cited By

Hildebrandt CWiewiorra L(2023)The past, present, and future of (net) neutrality: A state of knowledge review and research agendaJournal of Information Technology10.1177/0268396223117089139:1(167-193)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/02683962231170891
Martin NDogar F(2023)Divided at the Edge - Measuring Performance and the Digital Divide of Cloud Edge Data CentersProceedings of the ACM on Networking10.1145/36291381:CoNEXT3(1-23)Online publication date: 28-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3629138
Habib RTanveer SInam AAhmed HAli AUzmi ZQazi ZQazi ISchulzrinne HKohler EMaltz DMisra V(2023)A Framework for Improving Web Affordability and InclusivenessProceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2023 Conference10.1145/3603269.3604872(592-607)Online publication date: 10-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3603269.3604872
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Inside the Walled Garden: Deconstructing Facebook's Free Basics Program

Recommendations

Leveraging Facebook's Free Basics Engine for Web Service Deployment in Developing Regions
ICTD '17: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development

In this paper we analyze Facebook's Free Basics program, which provides free Internet access to a restricted set of web services. As the program grows to 60+ developing countries, an independent and data-driven audit of its scope and outreach is highly ...
Centralized Web Proxy Services: Security and Privacy Considerations

The widespread use of centrally controlled, externally run Web proxy services has several potential security issues related to privacy and deception, intranet information disclosure, and the creation of a single point of failure for widespread attacks. ...
Exploring the walled garden theory

This paper performs an exploratory study of mobile usage patterns over three years (20132015) in the context of pricing practices such as zero-rating. In recent years, there has been heated ongoing debate regarding whether offering different pricing ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review

ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review Volume 47, Issue 5

October 2017

78 pages

ISSN:0146-4833

DOI:10.1145/3155055

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2017 Authors.

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 25 October 2017

Published in SIGCOMM-CCR Volume 47, Issue 5

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

24
Total Citations
View Citations
669
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)50
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)6

Reflects downloads up to 18 Feb 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Hildebrandt CWiewiorra L(2023)The past, present, and future of (net) neutrality: A state of knowledge review and research agendaJournal of Information Technology10.1177/0268396223117089139:1(167-193)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/02683962231170891
Martin NDogar F(2023)Divided at the Edge - Measuring Performance and the Digital Divide of Cloud Edge Data CentersProceedings of the ACM on Networking10.1145/36291381:CoNEXT3(1-23)Online publication date: 28-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3629138
Habib RTanveer SInam AAhmed HAli AUzmi ZQazi ZQazi ISchulzrinne HKohler EMaltz DMisra V(2023)A Framework for Improving Web Affordability and InclusivenessProceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2023 Conference10.1145/3603269.3604872(592-607)Online publication date: 10-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3603269.3604872
Cheng QShan HZhuang WQuek TZhang ZHou F(2023)When Virtual Network Operator Meets E-Commerce Platform: Advertising via Data RewardIEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing10.1109/TMC.2022.320822922:12(7370-7386)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TMC.2022.3208229
Panke S(2023)Social Media: Friend and FoeTechnology-Enhanced Learning and the Virtual University10.1007/978-981-99-4170-4_15(263-282)Online publication date: 21-Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4170-4_15
Panke S(2023)Social Media: Friend and FoeTechnology-Enhanced Learning and the Virtual University10.1007/978-981-19-9438-8_15-1(1-20)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9438-8_15-1
Park SMulinka PPerino D(2022)A Large-scale Examination of ”Socioeconomic” Fairness in Mobile NetworksProceedings of the 5th ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies10.1145/3530190.3534809(248-256)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3530190.3534809
Dsane SDensmore MJoolay Y(2022)A Descriptive Analysis of Cohesion within Virtual and Physical Small Groups of Mothers in Bandwidth-Constrained Communities in Cape Town.Proceedings of the 5th ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies10.1145/3530190.3534793(152-164)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3530190.3534793
Abdullah MQazi ZQazi IBarakat CPelsser CBenson TChoffnes D(2022)Causal impact of Android go on mobile web performanceProceedings of the 22nd ACM Internet Measurement Conference10.1145/3517745.3561456(113-129)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3517745.3561456
Qazi IQazi ZAli AAbdullah MHabib R(2021)Rethinking Web for Affordability and InclusionProceedings of the 20th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks10.1145/3484266.3487376(9-15)Online publication date: 10-Nov-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3484266.3487376
Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Figures

Tables

Media

View Issue’s Table of Contents