Facebook Ends Platform Policy Banning Apps That Copy Its Features (techcrunch.com) 28
Facebook will now freely allow developers to build competitors to its features upon its own platform. Today Facebook announced it will drop Platform Policy section 4.1, which stipulates "Add something unique to the community. Don't replicate core functionality that Facebook already provides." TechCrunch reports: Facebook had previously enforced that policy selectively to hurt competitors that had used its Find Friends or viral distribution features. Apps like Vine, Voxer, MessageMe, Phhhoto and more had been cut off from Facebook's platform for too closely replicating its video, messaging or GIF creation tools. The move will significantly reduce the risk of building on the Facebook platform. It could also cast it in a better light in the eyes of regulators. Anyone seeking ways Facebook abuses its dominance will lose a talking point. And by creating a more fair and open platform where developers can build without fear of straying too close to Facebook's history or road map, it could reinvigorate its developer ecosystem. In a statement to TechCrunch, a Facebook spokesperson said: "We built our developer platform years ago to pave the way for innovation in social apps and services. At that time we made the decision to restrict apps built on top of our platform that replicated our core functionality. These kind of restrictions are common across the tech industry with different platforms having their own variant including YouTube, Twitter, Snap and Apple. We regularly review our policies to ensure they are both protecting people's data and enabling useful services to be built on our platform for the benefit of the Facebook community. As part of our ongoing review we have decided that we will remove this out of date policy so that our platform remains as open as possible. We think this is the right thing to do as platforms and technology develop and grow."
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Greedy company bans people from trying to adverstise their services which might overlap with greedy company.
Of course.
Greedy company stops the ban because so much negative press this is one of those 'freebies' to try and gain postiive mindshare.
Of course. Facebook has fucked themselves badly in the last year or two regarding both privacy and public opinion.
At this point the best thing Facebook could do to make people happy is to be less noticable. Seriously. Shut the fuck up and hide back in the shadows
Soooo (Score:2)
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Yes, please, use our stuff (Score:1)
My! What nice code you have!
Easier to track you with, my dear...
Since Facebook's main feature seems to be... (Score:2)
10-Year Guarantee? (Score:2)
Why should I invest any time or money developing based on Facebook's whim today when they can just reinstate the same policy again in six months?
Kick the ball, Charlie Brown!
Don't cheer so fast (Score:2)
Anyone seeking ways Facebook abuses its dominance will lose a talking point.
No... The fact is they already had that policy and used it as a way to extend and abuse their dominance for a long time. Furthermore, they can reintroduce such policy at any time it suits them, or use a Different clause of the terms or policy such as Facebook's discretion (or another guise)
to remove any competitor that comes to their notice as a potential threat to FB's dominance or a service/functionality FB wants to
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Since we're into sports metaphors (life is a win/lose proposition) let's flesh that out a bit.
Is it like the Edmonton Oilers having to play a game without Connor McDavid dressed for the game (as happened recently) or is it more like the Red Army from the 1970s and 1980s having to scrape up a temporary replacement from the whole of Soviet sphere, on an express Aeroflot ticket you can't refuse?
Negative Facebook talking points comes wi