Is Google joining hands with Facebook to prevent Net Neutrality in India?

Social media giant, Facebook, has come under a lot of criticism for its promotion of the Internet.org initiative, which violates net neutrality principles. Now, search engine giant, Google, admired for many social causes, has also come under the same criticism, due to Google's silence on Net Neutrality in India.

A recent report in MediaNama, claims that Google has joined hands with Facebook to prevent the IAMAI (The Internet and Mobile Association of India) from taking a stand that is opposed to Zero Rating. The IAMAI represents some of the largest Internet companies in India.

MediaNama claimed that it had copies of emails which showed that Vineeta Dixit, a member of Google’s Public Policy and and Government Relations team, strongly advocated for the removal of any mention of Zero Rating from the IAMAI’s submission, as a response to DoT’s report on Net Neutrality. Google has reasoned that as there is no strong consensus on Zero Rating, the mention of Zero Rating must be removed from the submission. Google's action is also strange as it has not participated or commented in the consultation process on Net Neutrality, till date.

The Net Neutrality debate has attracted views of more than 70,000 people who have posted their views on the DoT report on MyGov.in, the platform for citizen engagement created by the government.