Companies have been vocal about President Donald Trump’s executive order that prevents refugees and travelers from seven countries to enter the United States. Starbucks has pledged to hire 10,000 refugees. Lyft will donate $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union. Airbnb is providing free housing to people affected by the executive order.
Early Monday morning, Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten also fired out a response. Rakuten’s CEO Hiroshi Mikitani tweeted that its messaging platform Viber would offer free international calls to the affected countries.
This means that Viber users will be able to make free international calls from the United States to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. (Right now, calls made on the app from the U.S. to landlines in those seven countries range from $0.15 per minute to $0.70 per minute.)
We connect people – no matter where they’re from. Calls to any landline or mobile between 🇺🇸 and 🇱🇾 🇸🇩 🇸🇾 🇮🇶 🇮🇷 🇾🇪 🇸🇴are now free.
— Rakuten Viber (@Viber) January 30, 2017
Viber also issued a statement saying the company is offering free calls “so that those affected will now have one less barrier to cross when trying to reach their loved ones.”
Rakuten acquired Viber for $900 million in 2014.
