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Facebook ends platform policy banning apps that copy its features

Today Facebook announced it will drop Platform Policy section 4.1, which stipulates Add something unique to the community.

That policy felt pretty disingenuous given how aggressively Facebook has replicated everyone elses core functionality, from Snapchat to Twitter and beyond.

Facebook had previously enforced the 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 Facebooks platform for too closely replicating its video, messaging or GIF creation tools.

And by creating a more fair and open platform where developers can build without fear of straying too close to Facebooks history or road map, it could reinvigorate its developer ecosystem.

These kind of restrictions are common across the tech industry with different platforms having their own variant including YouTube, Twitter, Snap and Apple.

The change comes after Facebook locked down parts of its platformin April for privacy and security reasons in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Diplomatically, Facebook said it didnt expect the change to impact its standing with regulators but its open to answering their questions.

Below is an excerpt from our previous reporting on how Facebook has previously enforced Platform Policy 4.1 that before todays change was used to hamper competitors:

Original article
Author: Josh Constine

TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.

Josh Constine has recently written 11 articles on similar topics including :
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  6. "Despite ongoing public relations crises, Facebook kept growing in Q3 2019, demonstrating that media backlash does not necessarily equate to poor business performance". (October 30, 2019)
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