Facebook's Free Basics service was on Monday, Feb. 8 banned in India after investigations showed that the service violated net neutrality provisions. A day after the ban was imposed, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen stood up to defend Free Basics. However, Andreessen's comments sparked more controversy and even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg condemned the latter's statement.

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Andreessen equated critics of Facebook's Free Basics services to anti-free-market advocates and called the practice "morally wrong."

However, the Facebook board member missed one crucial thing. A majority of the resistance against Free Basics comes from the tech entrepreneurs as well as a significant portion of India's industrial and political block.

Critics of Free Basics are not just limited to conservative, anti-tech government regulators, a significant portion of them reportedly come from tech companies, developers and engineers that Facebook might probably need in order to expand its business in India.

In a statement Deck founder Sumanth Raghavendra said, "Many Indian startups see Free Basics as a threat to a level playing field and fear that it could lead to distortions and cronyism."

Raghavendra is not alone in his campaign. In fact, at least 854 Indian startup founders signed a letter directed to the Indian prime minister warning him of the effects of differential mobile pricing, the same mechanism that drives Free Basics.

Before Free Basics, Facebook introduced Internet.org, a service that picks select apps for its free mobile services. It was immediately met with massive negative remarks from Net Neutrality activists and Facebook thereafter closed the service.

Facebook then introduced Free Basics, a service that is open to any app. However, Indian Internet activists found out that the model behind Free Basics cuts mobile costs for some services, a scheme that Net Neutrality activists have deemed as insidious.

India is considered by many analysts as Facebook's biggest market.

TagsFacebook, Facebook Features, Facebook Free Basics, Free Basics, Facebook India, India, Free Basics India