This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(April 2018)
Wikipedia Zero was a project by the Wikimedia Foundation to provide access to Wikipedia free of charge on mobile phones via zero-rating, particularly in developing markets.[1][2] The objective of the program was to facilitate access to free knowledge for low-income pupils and students, in by means of waving the network traffic cost. With 97 operators in over 72 countries, it was estimated that access to Wikipedia was provided to more than 800 million people through the program.[3] The program ended in 2018.
Wikipedia Zero logo
The program was launched in 2012,[4] and won the 2013 South by Southwest Interactive Award for activism.[5] After having received criticism over the years for violating the principle of net neutrality,[6][7] in February 2018, the project announced the end of the initiative, stating that it would take a new strategy on partnerships.[8] Despite providing service to 900 million persons, the project was seen as jeopardized by a lack of growth, and by the declining price of cell phone data.[9]
Facebook Zero has been cited as an inspiration for Wikipedia Zero.[10]
Promotional video about free access to Wikipedia, featuring a school-class from South Africa and their open letter to telecommunication companies
The Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones of Chile ruled that zero-rating services like Wikipedia Zero, Facebook Zero, and Google Free Zone, that subsidize mobile data usage, violate net neutrality laws and had to end the practice by 1 June 2014.[28][29] The Electronic Frontier Foundation has said, "Whilst we appreciate the intent behind efforts such as Wikipedia Zero, ultimately zero rated services are a dangerous compromise."[6]Accessnow.org has been more critical, saying, "Wikimedia has always been a champion for openaccess to information, but it's crucial to call out zero-rating programs for what they are: Myopic deals that do great damage to the future of the open internet".[7]
The Wikimedia Foundation's Gayle Karen Young defended the program to The Washington Post, saying, "We have a complicated relationship to net neutrality. We believe in net neutrality in America", while adding that Wikipedia Zero required a different perspective in other countries: "Partnering with telecom companies in the near term, it blurs the net neutrality line in those areas. It fulfills our overall mission, though, which is providing free knowledge".[30]
Journalist Hilary Heuler argued that "for many, zero-rated programs would limit online access to the 'walled gardens' offered by the web heavyweights. For millions of users, Facebook and Wikipedia would be synonymous with 'internet'."[31] In 2015, researchers evaluating how the similar program Facebook Zero shapes information and communications technology use in the developing world found that 11% of Indonesians who said they used Facebook also said they did not use the Internet. 65% of Nigerians, and 61% of Indonesians agree with the statement that "Facebook is the Internet" compared with only 5% in the United States.[32]
An article in Vice magazine notes that the free access via Wikipedia Zero made Wikimedia Commons a preferred way for its users in Bangladesh and elsewhere to share copyrighted material illicitly. This caused problems at Wikimedia Commons (where uploading media that is not free-licensed is forbidden). The Vice article is critical of the situation created by Wikipedia Zero and of the backlash among Wikimedia Commons editors, arguing: "Because they can't afford access to YouTube and the rest of the internet, Wikipedia has become the internet for lots of Bangladeshis. What's crazy, then, is that a bunch of more-or-less random editors who happen to want to be the piracy police are dictating the means of access for an entire population of people."[33]
^Russell, Brandon (22 February 2013). . TechnoBuffalo. Archived from the original on 29 March 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^Wadhwa, Kul Takanao (22 February 2013). "Getting Wikipedia to the people who need it most". Knight Foundation. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^"Wikipedia Zero - Wikimedia Foundation". wikimediafoundation.org. from the original on 22 April 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
^Sofge, Erik (8 March 2013). "SXSW: Wikipedia for Non-Smartphones Is Brilliant. Here's Why". Popular Mechanics. from the original on 12 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^Riese, Monica (12 March 2013). "SXSW Interactive Awards Announced". The Austin Chronicle. Austin, Texas: Austin Chronicle Corp. ISSN 1074-0740. from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^ ab"Net Neutrality and the Global Digital Divide". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 24 July 2014. from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
^ ab"Wikipedia Zero and net neutrality: Wikimedia turns its back on the open internet". accessnow.org. 8 August 2014. from the original on 4 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
^Tiwari, Aditya (19 February 2018). "Free 'Wikipedia Zero' Is Shutting Down After Serving 800 Million Users". Fossbytes. from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
^Dillon, Conon (18 December 2013). "Wikipedia Zero: free data if you can afford it". from the original on 23 January 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
^. nation.com.pk. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
^. Mobilink. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
^"Wikipedia FREE". Dialog. from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
^"Tech Talk | Wikipedia Zero | A righteous initiative for accessing free knowledge". Archive.thedailystar.net. 2 December 2013. from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
^. Thefinancialexpress-bd.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
^. www.the-american-times.com. Hazlehurst Media SA. 22 July 2014. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
^. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
^. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
^"Wikimedia Foundation partners with Airtel Nigeria to offer free Wikipedia access to subscribers — TechCabal". 29 May 2014. from the original on 30 May 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
^. Kyivstar. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
^"MTN Ghana empowers customers with free access to Wikipedia". myjoyonline.com. from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
^"MTN Ghana empowers customers with free access to Wikipedia". myjoyonline.com. Ghana News Agency. 22 December 2014. from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
^. Archived from the original on 11 July 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
^Wood, Mike (13 July 2015). "Moldcell Joins the Free Wikipedia Access Revolution". Tech.co.
^"Asiacell to offer free access to Wikipedia in Iraq". AFP. from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
^Fingas, Jon (18 February 2018). "Wikipedia ends no-cost mobile access for developing countries". Engadget. from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
^Mirani, Leo (30 May 2014). "Less than zero – When net neutrality backfires: Chile just killed free access to Wikipedia and Facebook". Quartz. from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
^McKenzie, Jessica (2 June 2014). "Face Off in Chile: Net Neutrality v. Human Right to Facebook & Wikipedia". from the original on 5 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
^"Wikipedia's 'complicated' relationship with net neutrality". Washington Post. from the original on 25 June 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
^Hilary Heuler. "Who really wins from Facebook's 'free internet' plan for Africa?". ZDNet. from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
^Leo Mirani (9 February 2015). "Millions of Facebook users have no idea they're using the internet". from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
^Koebler, Jason (27 March 2016). "Wikipedia's Piracy Police Are Ruining the Developing World's Internet Experience". Motherboard. Vice Media. from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wikipedia Zero.
wikipedia, zero, predecessors, prototypes, wikipedia, history, wikipedia, this, article, needs, updated, please, help, update, this, article, reflect, recent, events, newly, available, information, april, 2018, project, wikimedia, foundation, provide, access, . For predecessors and prototypes of Wikipedia see History of Wikipedia This article needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information April 2018 Wikipedia Zero was a project by the Wikimedia Foundation to provide access to Wikipedia free of charge on mobile phones via zero rating particularly in developing markets 1 2 The objective of the program was to facilitate access to free knowledge for low income pupils and students in by means of waving the network traffic cost With 97 operators in over 72 countries it was estimated that access to Wikipedia was provided to more than 800 million people through the program 3 The program ended in 2018 Wikipedia Zero logo The program was launched in 2012 4 and won the 2013 South by Southwest Interactive Award for activism 5 After having received criticism over the years for violating the principle of net neutrality 6 7 in February 2018 the project announced the end of the initiative stating that it would take a new strategy on partnerships 8 Despite providing service to 900 million persons the project was seen as jeopardized by a lack of growth and by the declining price of cell phone data 9 Facebook Zero has been cited as an inspiration for Wikipedia Zero 10 Contents 1 History 2 Reception and impact 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksHistory EditThis section contains content that is written like an advertisement Please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view December 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Countries with Wikipedia Zero are shown in green and countries that were planned to get Wikipedia Zero are shown in blue 30 August 2018 A brief history of launches is provided within that map above In addition to that Wikimedia Foundation mobile network partners has a complete list of participating mobile networks and launch dates Malaysia on 12 May Digi Telecommunications 11 Kenya on 26 July 2012 Orange S A October 2012 Thailand in October 2012 dtac Saudi Arabia with Saudi Telecom Company May 2013 Pakistan with Mobilink 12 13 June 2013 Sri Lanka with Dialog Axiata 14 October 2013 Jordan with Umniah Bangladesh with Banglalink 15 16 April 2014 Kosovo on the IPKO network 17 May 2014 Nepal with Ncell 18 and in Kyrgyzstan with Beeline 19 May 2014 Nigeria with Airtel Nigeria 20 October 2014 Ukraine with Kyivstar 21 December 2014 Ghana with MTN Ghana 22 23 December 2014 Angola with Unitel S A Algeria in January 2015 Djezzy 24 Moldova in July 2015 Moldcell 25 March 2017 Iraq with Asiacell 26 September 2017 Afghanistan with RoshanIn February 2018 the Wikimedia Foundation announced that the Wikipedia Zero program would be completely phased out by the end of 2018 8 27 Reception and impact Edit source source source source source source source source source source source source source source track track track track track track track track Promotional video produced by the Wikimedia Foundation and narrated by their founder Jimmy Wales source source source source source source source source source source source source source source track Promotional video about free access to Wikipedia featuring a school class from South Africa and their open letter to telecommunication companies The Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones of Chile ruled that zero rating services like Wikipedia Zero Facebook Zero and Google Free Zone that subsidize mobile data usage violate net neutrality laws and had to end the practice by 1 June 2014 28 29 The Electronic Frontier Foundation has said Whilst we appreciate the intent behind efforts such as Wikipedia Zero ultimately zero rated services are a dangerous compromise 6 Accessnow org has been more critical saying Wikimedia has always been a champion for open access to information but it s crucial to call out zero rating programs for what they are Myopic deals that do great damage to the future of the open internet 7 The Wikimedia Foundation s Gayle Karen Young defended the program to The Washington Post saying We have a complicated relationship to net neutrality We believe in net neutrality in America while adding that Wikipedia Zero required a different perspective in other countries Partnering with telecom companies in the near term it blurs the net neutrality line in those areas It fulfills our overall mission though which is providing free knowledge 30 Journalist Hilary Heuler argued that for many zero rated programs would limit online access to the walled gardens offered by the web heavyweights For millions of users Facebook and Wikipedia would be synonymous with internet 31 In 2015 researchers evaluating how the similar program Facebook Zero shapes information and communications technology use in the developing world found that 11 of Indonesians who said they used Facebook also said they did not use the Internet 65 of Nigerians and 61 of Indonesians agree with the statement that Facebook is the Internet compared with only 5 in the United States 32 An article in Vice magazine notes that the free access via Wikipedia Zero made Wikimedia Commons a preferred way for its users in Bangladesh and elsewhere to share copyrighted material illicitly This caused problems at Wikimedia Commons where uploading media that is not free licensed is forbidden The Vice article is critical of the situation created by Wikipedia Zero and of the backlash among Wikimedia Commons editors arguing Because they can t afford access to YouTube and the rest of the internet Wikipedia has become the internet for lots of Bangladeshis What s crazy then is that a bunch of more or less random editors who happen to want to be the piracy police are dictating the means of access for an entire population of people 33 See also EditAlliance for Affordable Internet Google Free Zone Internet org Facebook for SIM Airtel ZeroReferences Edit Russell Brandon 22 February 2013 Wikipedia Zero Wants to Bring Wikipedia to Mobile Users Without a Data Plan TechnoBuffalo Archived from the original on 29 March 2013 Retrieved 8 April 2013 Wadhwa Kul Takanao 22 February 2013 Getting Wikipedia to the people who need it most Knight Foundation Archived from the original on 4 July 2013 Retrieved 8 April 2013 Wikipedia Zero Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation org Archived from the original on 22 April 2015 Retrieved 17 February 2018 Sofge Erik 8 March 2013 SXSW Wikipedia for Non Smartphones Is Brilliant Here s Why Popular Mechanics Archived from the original on 12 April 2013 Retrieved 8 April 2013 Riese Monica 12 March 2013 SXSW Interactive Awards Announced The Austin Chronicle Austin Texas Austin Chronicle Corp ISSN 1074 0740 Archived from the original on 17 March 2013 Retrieved 8 April 2013 a b Net Neutrality and the Global Digital Divide Electronic Frontier Foundation 24 July 2014 Archived from the original on 8 February 2015 Retrieved 11 January 2015 a b Wikipedia Zero and net neutrality Wikimedia turns its back on the open internet accessnow org 8 August 2014 Archived from the original on 4 January 2015 Retrieved 11 January 2015 a b Building for the future of Wikimedia with a new approach to partnerships Wikimedia Diff Wikimedia Foundation 16 February 2018 Archived from the original on 18 February 2018 Retrieved 18 February 2018 Tiwari Aditya 19 February 2018 Free Wikipedia Zero Is Shutting Down After Serving 800 Million Users Fossbytes Archived from the original on 25 June 2018 Retrieved 13 December 2019 Dillon Conon 18 December 2013 Wikipedia Zero free data if you can afford it Archived from the original on 23 January 2014 Retrieved 15 January 2014 Wikipedia Zero launches in Malaysia with Digi Wikimedia Diff Diff wikimedia org 26 May 2012 Archived from the original on 24 June 2013 Retrieved 27 June 2013 Mobilink brings Wikipedia Zero to Pakistan nation com pk Archived from the original on 22 June 2013 Retrieved 27 June 2013 Mobilink brings Wikipedia Zero to Pakistan Mobilink Archived from the original on 16 August 2016 Retrieved 12 July 2016 Wikipedia FREE Dialog Archived from the original on 27 November 2015 Retrieved 30 July 2015 Tech Talk Wikipedia Zero A righteous initiative for accessing free knowledge Archive thedailystar net 2 December 2013 Archived from the original on 27 July 2014 Retrieved 24 June 2014 Banglalink launches Wikipedia Zero Financial Express Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh Thefinancialexpress bd com Archived from the original on 10 February 2015 Retrieved 24 June 2014 Kosovo s Largest Foreign Investment Sets Tone for Innovation www the american times com Hazlehurst Media SA 22 July 2014 Archived from the original on 2 May 2015 Retrieved 22 July 2014 Wikipedia Zero arrives in Nepal via Ncell and you don t have to pay a Paisa to use it Archived from the original on 12 July 2014 Retrieved 19 May 2014 Beeline otkryl besplatnyj dostup k Wikipedia dlya svoih abonentov Archived from the original on 13 August 2014 Retrieved 1 July 2014 Wikimedia Foundation partners with Airtel Nigeria to offer free Wikipedia access to subscribers TechCabal 29 May 2014 Archived from the original on 30 May 2016 Retrieved 25 June 2016 Abonenti Kiyivstar mozhut koristuvatisya Wikipedia z nulovim balansom na rahunku Kyivstar Archived from the original on 6 November 2014 Retrieved 13 November 2014 MTN Ghana empowers customers with free access to Wikipedia myjoyonline com Archived from the original on 23 December 2014 Retrieved 23 December 2014 MTN Ghana empowers customers with free access to Wikipedia myjoyonline com Ghana News Agency 22 December 2014 Archived from the original on 23 December 2014 Retrieved 24 December 2014 Djezzy lance l acces gratuit a Wikipedia Archived from the original on 11 July 2017 Retrieved 20 January 2017 Wood Mike 13 July 2015 Moldcell Joins the Free Wikipedia Access Revolution Tech co Asiacell to offer free access to Wikipedia in Iraq AFP Archived from the original on 10 January 2021 Retrieved 28 October 2017 Fingas Jon 18 February 2018 Wikipedia ends no cost mobile access for developing countries Engadget Archived from the original on 19 February 2018 Retrieved 19 February 2018 Mirani Leo 30 May 2014 Less than zero When net neutrality backfires Chile just killed free access to Wikipedia and Facebook Quartz Archived from the original on 4 July 2014 Retrieved 2 July 2014 McKenzie Jessica 2 June 2014 Face Off in Chile Net Neutrality v Human Right to Facebook amp Wikipedia Archived from the original on 5 July 2014 Retrieved 2 July 2014 Wikipedia s complicated relationship with net neutrality Washington Post Archived from the original on 25 June 2015 Retrieved 18 September 2017 Hilary Heuler Who really wins from Facebook s free internet plan for Africa ZDNet Archived from the original on 6 July 2015 Retrieved 6 July 2015 Leo Mirani 9 February 2015 Millions of Facebook users have no idea they re using the internet Archived from the original on 6 July 2015 Retrieved 6 July 2015 Koebler Jason 27 March 2016 Wikipedia s Piracy Police Are Ruining the Developing World s Internet Experience Motherboard Vice Media Archived from the original on 24 March 2017 Retrieved 10 June 2017 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wikipedia Zero Wikipedia Zero at the Wikimedia Foundation Wikimedia blog posts about Wikipedia Zero Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Wikipedia Zero amp oldid 1120215860, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
