Netizens exult as Flipkart opts out of Airtel Zero following net neutrality debate

Flipkart's Tuesday morning decision to opt out of the Airtel Zero program was met with much celebration on social media, with triumphant messages of "We did it!" by those who have been advocating online for net neutrality.

The program lets OTT services offer their apps for free through a subscription with the telco. This approach, where the internet is spliced up into different services rather than measuring usage by the byte, was seen as discriminatory and violative of net neutrality.

After news of Flipkart's pulling out broke, #IndiaWantsNetNeutrality was the top trend on Facebook.`Airtel Zero' was among the top trends on Twitter. Meanwhile on Reddit, a discussion thread on the story gathered nearly 200 comments within three hours.

"Let us not stop. Next we must ask reliance and the likes to stop violating net neutrality.The battle is won, but the war is far from over," wrote haigaguy on Reddit, while redditor bolradhabol exulted, "WE DID IT REDDIT!" Flipkart's pulling out broke, #IndiaWantsNetNeutrality was the top trend on Facebook.`Airtel Zero' was among the top trends on Twitter. Meanwhile on Reddit, a discussion thread on the story gathered nearly 200 comments within three hours. "Let us not stop. Next we must ask reliance and the likes to stop violating net neutrality.The battle is won, but the war is far from over," wrote haigaguy on Reddit, while redditor bolradhabol exulted, "WE DID IT REDDIT!" Flipkart's pulling out broke, #IndiaWantsNetNeutrality was the top trend on Facebook.

'Airtel Zero' was among the top trends on Twitter. Meanwhile on Reddit, a discussion thread on the story gathered nearly 200 comments within three hours. "Let us not stop. Next we must ask reliance and the likes to stop violating net neutrality.The battle is won, but the war is far from over," wrote haigaguy on Reddit, while redditor bolradhabol exulted, "WE DID IT REDDIT!"

Flipkart's decision to tie up with Airtel had invited a strong backlash.Users tweeted about uninstalling the e-commerce website's app from their phones in protest and also giving it a bad rating on the app store."#SaveTheInternet Uninstalled @ Flipkart App from my phone. I swear to uninstall any App which will be against net neutrality," @sdas4u had tweeted on Monday.

"Yes i did took (sic) my time to rate @flipkart 1 star in both app store and google play. I hope they do listen.#NetNeutrality," @ujvaljoshi had tweeted even earlier. Others meanwhile, questioned why the same treatment was not being meted out to the likes of Facebook or Twitter that also violate net neutrality by tying up with telcos for special data packages.

"Indians r giving 1 star rating 2 flipkart app but not bothered 2 touch the big ones facebook and others why there is no voting neutrality??" asked @ronyjacob. The rating of Airtel's own mobile app on iOS was downgraded to 1.5 stars. The campaign having paid off, the reactions on Twitter were largely jubilant.