Participation Guidelines

Creating a website that meets the participation guidelines will make your website compatible with the Free Basics Platform. This document will help you configure your website and submit it for review to be listed within Free Basics.

Compatibility

The goal of the Free Basics Platform is to provide people with a set of free basic services that will serve as an onramp to bringing them online. More people will want to connect to the internet and ultimately become paying users if they first experience the benefits of being online. To do this effectively for people who are new to the internet, it’s important to have content and services available that are useful and easy to use, to enable as many developers and entrepreneurs as possible to participate in Free Basics, and to offer services that encourage the exploration of the broader internet.

Compatibility for listing within Free Basics is based on the below criteria:

1. Efficiency

To sustainably deliver free basic internet services to people, we need to build apps that use data very efficiently. Operators have made significant economic investments to bring the internet to people globally, and Free Basics needs to be sustainable for operators so that they can continue to invest in the infrastructure to maintain, improve and expand their networks. Services should not use VoIP, video, file transfer, or photos larger than 200 KB.

2. Technical specifications

Websites must be built to be optimized for browsing on both feature and smartphones and in limited bandwidth scenarios. In addition, websites must be properly integrated with Internet.org to allow zero rating and must meet technical guidelines.

Before you submit your website, be sure you’ve read and comply with these guidelines. Your website must also comply with local laws and regulations.

Additional Terms

By submitting your service for consideration in Free Basics, you are confirming that you've reviewed the Free Basics Participation Guidelines and agree to the following:

  • Your site(s) may be proxied to make your content available through Free Basics. You can let us know that you want to pull your site(s) from Free Basics at any time, but because we may need to make product and marketing adjustments, we may require 60 days from receipt of your notice to transition gracefully.
  • In order for your content to be proxied as described above, your URLs may be re-written and embedded content (like javascript and content originating from another domain) removed. In addition, secure content is not supported and may not load.
  • Your name and logo may be included in Free Basics, product screenshots of the service and press releases, but we won’t use your brand in a larger marketing promotion without first asking for your approval.
  • Any data (e.g., proxy requests) or reporting we provide is deemed Facebook confidential information and cannot be used by you for any advertising purposes or shared with third parties.
  • Developer participation on the Free Basics Platform, including the information submitted with your application, is otherwise governed by our standard legal terms. Collectively, our standard legal terms and these supplemental terms are the entire agreement between you and Facebook relating to Free Basics, and any terms of use for your service will not apply to Facebook.
  • We may update these terms from time to time as the Free Basics Platform evolves. Unless we make a change to the above terms for legal or administrative reasons, or to correct an inaccurate statement, we will provide you with seven (7) days advance notice (for example, by posting the change here) of the updated terms. Your continued participation as a developer on the Free Basics Platform following changes to the terms constitutes your acceptance of our amended terms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions regarding our terms, guidelines, and policies. We plan to add to this FAQ from time to time, so check back for updates.

1. Does Facebook take ownership of Free Basics Platform content, or take the right to use it in any way it wants?

No. Content made available by participants through Free Basics Platform is owned and controlled by those participants. Facebook never takes ownership of any content made available by participants.

The license included in Facebook’s terms that applies to Free Basics Platform content serves a limited purpose: to the extent the content passes through Facebook servers, the license simply ensures that Facebook has whatever rights may be needed to proxy that content.

2. Do services included in Free Basics have to comply with Facebook's Community Standards?

No, we do not reject services on the basis of our Community Standards.