For the world’s largest social network, Facebook certainly doesn’t play well with others – at least when it comes to making room for apps that compete with their pet projects.
According to published reports Thursday, Facebook has effectively blocked Vintage Camera from accessing its API.
The Instagram-esque photo app is just the latest app Facebook has reportedly blocked as the company clearly strives to protect its own properties.
Facebook, however, doesn’t pinpoint competition as the reason for Vintage Camera’s inability to join the Facebook family. Facebook’s platform policies for quality standards are being cited, according to ComputerWorld.
While it provides an open platform, every app on the platform is required to meet Facebook policies, a representative said in an email.
“Depending on the violation, we give developers an opportunity to come into compliance via a warning system, and also provide Insights so developers can monitor user reports and spikes in spam reports,” Facebook explains.
The developer of Vintage Camera still suspects “ulterior motives.”
“The reason for the app being denied of uploading photos, according to Facebook, is that it was receiving a ‘high amount of negative user feedback,’ which is not true,” says Antoine Morcos, co-founder at Vintage Camera developer Presselite Studio. He goes on to tell ComputerWorld that only one to three cases of negative feedback are reported to Facebook for the 1,000 to 3,000 photos shared each day with the application.
So… do you think Facebook was justified in blocking Vintage Camera?