In another attack on freedom of expression in Egypt under president Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, Free Basics, a Facebook program operated by the Internet.org initiative and providing free access to Internet services such as Wikipedia, Bing search, and BBC News has been shut down.
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Facebook confirmed the shutdown in Egypt to the Associated Press, stating “we’re disappointed that Free Basics will no longer be available in Egypt. More than 1 million people who were previously unconnected had been using the Internet because of these efforts.”
Free Basics was available in Egypt on Etisalat Egyptian network.