The Outline:Wikipedia ends "Wikpedia Zero"

[Strelnikov]

Quote:

Wikipedia announced on Friday that it would be ending its six-year Wikipedia Zero program, where customers of 92 global mobile carriers in 72 countries could access Wikipedia without it counting against their data plans. The program gave 800 million people in select countries free access to Wikipedia.

The countries in the Wikipedia Zero program — which included India, Malaysia, and Niger — have populations that are more likely to use phones than computers to access the internet. At the time of Wikipedia Zero’s launch, 85 percent of phones sold worldwide were internet-capable, but only 15 percent of people paid to access internet data. By giving preferential access to Wikipedia, the Wikipedia Zero program arguably promoted the antithesis of net neutrality: mobile carriers would provide unrestricted access to the site without charging customers the related data fees. But the service gave access to an enormous repository of information (even if content was not available in every local language).....

https://theoutline.com/post/3463/wikipe ... -countries

The WMF blames lack of awareness that the site exists in India, Mexico, and Nigeria.

Jimbo must be in a heavy TANSTAAFL mode now.

[The End]

I haven't heard of Zero in years. I figured it was long dead.

[ericbarbour]

I haven't heard of Zero in years. I figured it was long dead.

Eve noticed how many of their "initiatives" slowly and quietly decline and disappear, after a few years of publicity? We could always take bets on how long Wiki Loves Monuments or WikiWomen will continue. Or all those hundreds of Wikiprojects, most being long dead already. The WMF doesn't even know how many of these "initiatives" exist. No one's keeping track and some survive only because they attracted enough volunteers to keep going.