Internet.org launched in Indonesia. What’s in store for users?

On April 17, through a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg declared to the world that Facebook’s Internet.org app is now available in Indonesia, in collaboration with mobile phone carrier Indosat.

Internet.org is an app which offers a suite of useful services – including Facebook – to users without charging for data transfer.

In India, the app has caused some controversy. A number of members of India’s startup community, including investors and founders, came out against the initiative. Mahesh Murthy, a partner at India’s Seed Fund went so far as to call Internet.org an “exploitation of the poorest of the poor,” which was giving the people an “ugly, stunted and unbalanced selection of a few products and denying them the full power of the internet.”

In Indonesia, the launch of the app has not met noticeable resistance. Several tech companies, including Tokopedia and Kelase, announced in press statements that they were proud participants of Internet.org and in full support of its program.

What’s really in it?

Today I finally got the chance to actually test Internet.org for the first time, using a Xiaomi Mi 3 phone and the Mentari super internet prepaid plan from Indosat.

After installing the app, it opens to something that resembles a browser, with a list of sites to chose from. At the time of writing, the list contains the following services:

• Accuweather
• Ask.com
• BabyCenter
• Bola.net
• Facebook
• Girl Effect
• JobStreet
• Kapanlagi
• Kelase
• Merdeka.com
• OLX
• Penuntun Hidup Sehat
• Tokopedia
• Wikipedia
• Wattpad

This represents a mix of international and local sites, ranging from education, health, news, to shopping and entertainment.

Tokopedia, for instance, is one of Indonesia’s most prominent online marketplaces, while Girl Effect appears to be a global initiative managed by the Nike Foundation. In Indonesia’s version of Internet.org, Girl Effect offers localized content in Indonesian aimed at teenage girls, with topics such as “girl heroes” and “life advice”.

Not as wholesome as it seems