If you've been misprepresented by Facebook

Several people have informed us of instances where they've been incorrectly shown as supporting Facebook's FreeBasics, when they don't. Please see the footnote for examples. One way of addressing this situation is to email TRAI to correct your stand. You can do two things: Firstly, tell the TRAI that Facebook's claim of your support for FreeBasics is not valid. You can mail the following letter to [email protected]. > Sir/Madam, Facebook may tell you that I have signed a petition in fa

21 December, 2015
1 min read

Several people have informed us of instances where they've been incorrectly shown as supporting Facebook's FreeBasics, when they don't. Please see the footnote for examples.

One way of addressing this situation is to email TRAI to correct your stand. You can do two things:

Firstly, tell the TRAI that Facebook's claim of your support for FreeBasics is not valid. You can mail the following letter to [email protected].

Sir/Madam,

Facebook may tell you that I have signed a petition in favour of Free Basics platform. This is not true. I have no wish to support Free Basics platform in any manner, and categorically deny that I have given Facebook any approval to send you such information on my behalf. I strongly condemn Facebook's behaviour in this regard.

In case you are not aware, Facebook has designed its interface in such a manner that I, along with other users, was tricked into expressing support for Free Basics . Further, Facebook also notifies all my friends that I have expressed support for Free Basics, despite my lack of support for this platform.

For these reasons, please disregard any expression of support for Facebook on my behalf that you receive. I strongly condemn Facebook's behavior in this regard as a shameful breach of trust and privacy, due to the misguiding nature of the messaging, and lack of/tricked consent to share with my friends.

I shall be separately sending in an email with my support for Net Neutrality. I don't believe we can have Digital Equality without Net Neutrality, and FreeBasics violates Net Neutrality.

Thank you

Secondly, send an email to the TRAI indicating your actual stand to the TRAI. A sample is available at www.savetheinternet.in, along with a tool that helps your mail the TRAI.

Of course, if you support FreeBasics, then please ignore this message. Every Indian citizen has a right to her point of view, and we would urge you to participate in this democratic and important process from the TRAI.

Thanks,
The SaveTheInternet Team

Footnote:
We've come across three types of instances:

  • People, on clicking on 'Scroll down to read more', or reading, have been shown as supporting Free Basics. (source)

  • People who have opposed Free Basics in writing using Facebook's site are shown to their friends as having supported it. (source)

  • People with inactive accounts have been shown as supporting FreeBasics (source)

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