A day after e-commerce giant Flipkart ditched the on-going partnership deal with Airtel for its platform Airtel Zero, known travel site Clear Trip, on Wednesday, walked out of Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, stepping up in support of Net Neutrality in India. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the company declared this, while clarifying the reasons why they had chosen to be a part of the initiative earlier.
“A few weeks back, Facebook reached out and asked us to participate in the Internet.org initiative with the intention of helping us deliver one of our most affordable products to the more underserved parts of the country. There was no revenue arrangement between us and Internet.org or any of its participants — we were neither paid anything, nor did we pay anything to participate. Additionally we don’t make any money out of that product. Since there was absolutely zero money changing hands, we genuinely believed we were contributing to a social cause,” the company said.
“Since there was absolutely zero money changing hands, we genuinely believed we were contributing to a social cause. But the recent debate around #NetNeutrality gave us pause to rethink our approach to Internet.org and the idea of large corporations getting involved with picking and choosing who gets access to what and how fast,” said the statement from Clear Trip.
“So while our original intent was noble, it is impossible to pretend there is no conflict of interest (both real and perceived) in our decision to be a participant in Internet.org. In light of this, Cleartrip has withdrawn our association with and participation in Internet.org entirely,” the company stated further.
The company asserted it believed the internet is a great leveller and that freedom of the Internet is critical for innovation, while pledging for a committed support towards the Neutral Net.
The netizens’ initiative of neutral internet has gained tremendous support by-far. Snapdeal’s CEO too tweeted his support for this initiative on Wednesday.
AlsoRead: Spectralhues’ coverage on Net Neutrality
Tags: ClearTrip facebook Net Neutrality Snapdeal
