[dingdongding]

So Facebook paid 5.7 billion dollar to buy "influence" in India. The biggest influencer of India is Mukesh Ambani who has strong influence in Indian politics. Now it will be a matter of months and WhatsApp payments will get regulatory approval to go ahead to launch WhatsApp payments in India. That is the boss move here IMO. Jio is just a way to solve for regulatory hurdles in India.

[haltingproblem]

Jumping the gun here. Jio's founder, Ambani has his own ambitions in this space and he is highly unlikely to carry water for FB. This is akin to saying when Microsoft took a stake in Apple that they would carry water for Apple.

They are frenemies at best and outright competitors. FB gets to deploy its cash hoard into a relatively safe and perhaps lucrative investment and buy some insurance to being treated fairly on Jio's platform.

[just42]

So no solace, because it's even worse. Jio is a bigger danger than FB to us Indians, we just don’t seem to realize/care (as in being an information monopoly). I don’t think even Jio realizes it. They may believe that they are doing God’s service in providing affordable 21st century services to the masses. But that’s how the really bad stuff usually starts.

[paxys]

WhatsApp payments already had regulatory approval before this deal.

[onetimemanytime]

Right, since FB cannot move itself the (likely) billion dollar bribes to Gov Official's Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India#Bribery

[rgrs]

Why it can't? Why do you think Govt is always corrupt? Why judge current govt based on corruption done in previous regimes?

[letmelurkaround]

This is totally true. Just lobby the biggest business instead of the government who didn’t bend for you.

[fermienrico]

For those who don't know - Mukesh Ambani is the 3rd richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $60B.

[skinnymuch]

He lost a lot of net worth in 2020. Regardless, he wasn’t 3rd richest before either. He’s 2nd richest Asian. Also just below Mackenzie Bezos.