"In many countries, mobile operators have teamed up with social media platforms to offer free access to specific websites or internet services—including news websites. The most well-known of these offerings, Facebook’s Free Basics, has been explicitly pitched as a way to give citizens in developing countries greater access to news, but Facebook is not the only company touting these so-called “zero-rated” arrangements as a bridge across the digital divide. This report examines whether these arrangements are broadening access to diverse sources of news, as promised, and whether they might have broader consequences for the news market. Little evidence exists that zero-rating alone has been a successful strategy to grow audience reach. Technical hurdles jeopardize news media inclusion, especially for smaller outlets. Zero-rated news is a concern for fair markets and pluralism as it might strengthen the dominance of large internet platforms." (Key findings)