Wikimedia shuts down Wikipedia Zero
The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to discontinue its Wikipedia Zero programme this year. The programme, launched in 2012, saw Wikimedia partnering with 97 mobile operators in 72 countries around the world, to provide free access to Wikipedia on mobile devices to more than 800 million people. Current partnerships with mobile operators will expire throughout the year, and no new partnerships will be concluded. According to the foundation, there has been ‘a significant drop off in adoption and interest’ in the programme since 2016, which could have been caused by changes in mobile data costs. Wikipedia Zero was criticised by some for being against net neutrality principles, although the Foundation argued that this was not the case.
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