Facebook Suspends Apps, Announces New Rules

Facebook has announced the suspension of 'tens of thousands' of apps, created by around 400 different developers, as it continues an eighteen-month investigation following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Ime Archibong, VP of Product Partnerships, said in a blog post (https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/09/an-update-on-our-app-developer-investigation ) that many of the apps were not live but still in their testing phase when suspended. The post gives examples of the actions taken: Facebook closed an app called myPersonality, which was found to be sharing user data with a number of companies and researchers, and subsequently refused to participate in a review when contacted. Lawsuits have been filed against companies including South Korean firm RankWave, for refusing to participate in an assessment; against JediMobi and LionMobi for ad fraud; and against two Ukrainians, Andrey Gorbachov and Gleb Sluchevsky, for running quiz apps which stole user data.


Facebook said it had reviewed 'millions of apps... all those that had access to large amounts of information before we changed our platform policies in 2014'. The firm has also made 'widespread improvements' for policies to evaluate developers, removed a number of APIs, and grown the teams dedicated to investigating and enforcing against bad actors. It will now review every active app with access to more than basic user information, every year. There are new rules to more strictly control developers' access to user data: 'Apps that provide minimal utility for users, like personality quizzes, may not be allowed on Facebook. Apps may not request a person's data unless the developer uses it to meaningfully improve the quality of a person's experience. They must also clearly demonstrate to people how their data would be used to provide them that experience. And we will not allow apps on Facebook that request a disproportionate amount of information from users relative to the value they provide'.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.