“The East India company was the spearhead of the British empire. They controlled the two most important commodities you needed for economic growth. One was labor and the other was actual commodities. In the post internet age attention and connectivity are the two limiting factors to economic growth. By controlling those points what you’re looking at is Facebook is trying to control what will happen in the future.”
Om continues:
I think people look at it and just say “no, this is just about the Internet.” But if the Facebook logarithm can decide who wins the elections in Egypt or India or wherever that is not a good situation to have. They have never addressed those issues directly. They don’t address the insidious nature of internet.org and its impact on local governments and local populations. So, I understand that they are trying to do good by giving access to people, but I don’t think it’s as simple as that. This is all about advertising, making money, and decisions which will be made based on how Facebook makes more money in the future. […] I Draw the parallel between what was the East India company and I think Facebook is trying to do somewhat the same thing.