Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Facebook stops Amazon affiliated apps

I got this email from Facebook asking to stop my app which was based on Amazon affiliate program.


------------------------------------------------------------
To the Developer of Amazon Deals Shop,
We're writing to inform you that there's a policy violation in App Amazon Deals Shop(21223172731) that requires immediate attention. We have detected that you are using an ad provider that has not accepted our terms, which is a violation of section III.B.2 of the Facebook Platform Policies. We ask that you use one of the ad providers that have agreed to our terms (http://developers.facebook.com/adproviders). Please address this issue as soon as possible but no later than 1:00pm PT Tuesday, September 13, 2011. If we verify that the violation has not been addressed after that point you will be subject to a restriction.
In February, we announced (http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/461) plans to update our Platform policies to require developers building Apps on Facebook.com (Canvas Apps) to use third-party ad providers who have signed our terms that govern ad quality and data use. As always, we value the innovation you continue to bring to the Platform, and welcome your feedback in the Developer Forum where others can hear your thoughts and participate in the conversation. We've also included a few helpful resources in the link below:
Facebook Platform Policies: http://developers.facebook.com/policy
Thanks,
The Platform Policy Team

------------------------------------------------------------


Basically Facebook has a list of Ad programs that can only be used for monetizing app. My app happened to be purely based on Amazon affiliate, suggesting discounted items and making them sharable to FB users. So I had to stop it.

I for once contacted FB and told that I was not recording any user data in through my app but that did not satisfy them. They just do not want Amazon affiliate to used.

Made me wonder what the real reason could be ? The reason has definitely nothing to do with privacy concerns since I made it very clear that the app does not store any information from the FB user, it just helps the FB user navigate few links (may be through product categories etc) eventually leading them to an item that they want to buy. Finally at the point when user clicks on "Check Out" button they are redirected to Amazon site. After that the navigation is completely on Amazon and the app does not know anything about that.

For now that app is stopped and I am wondering what can I do with all the effort that has gone in creating the app. and finally to be stopped without understanding a logical reason for stopping it!

No comments: