It's no longer a secret that Facebook shares data to third-parties.
Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal that dragged the social media giant into problems, the company announced a list of updates to its app development platform, which are to make access to its APIs difficult, as well as tweaks and some deprecation of less popular ones.
First of all, apps must undergo a new review process before getting access to Facebook’s Marketing API, the tool which allows developers to build advertising functionality and automation into their apps.
The Lead Ads Retrieval and Live Video APIs will also have a review process.
Facebook has also modified the API from a three-tier to a two-tier structure to "simplify" it.
And also to make things less complicated for users as well as for itself, Facebook is shutting down a number of APIs, including the Trending API and Trending Topics, as well as the Graph API Explorer App which allows developers to run test queries.
According to Ime Archibong, Facebook’s VP of product partnerships, developers that want to do test queries should use their own apps' access tokens.
Facebook is also deprecating the Topic Search, Topic Insights, Topic Feed, Public Figure APIs, as well as the Profile Expression Kit which allowed developers to let people share photos and videos created in their apps as Facebook profile pictures.
According to the announcement, the company is shutting them down because of low usage.
"We’re deprecating this tool on October 1 due to low adoption," wrote Archibong regarding the Profile Expression Kit.
And as for Media Solutions APIs - a family of APIs for building apps for Facebook’s media partners - are getting limitations around accessible content. With the change, public content discovery APIs are limited to Page content and public posts from only certain verified profiles.
The changes are mostly about limitation and deprecation.
One change that should give developers the advantage, is that Facebook is giving back the ability to search across Facebook Pages via its Pages API. This particular feature was previously removed while Facebook audited its app review process.
"This will enable [developers] to more easily find similar Pages in a Facebook ad for co-branding purposes," explained Archibong.
The difference is that developers must first receive special permission to "Page Public Content Access", a permission that can only be granted through the app review process, before getting any access to the search capabilities within the Pages API.
Facebook Tries To Play Safe: Seeing What Will Happen
After updating its Data Policy, it's not unusual for Facebook to make changes along the way.
But most of these changes are made following the Cambridge Analytica which exploited millions of user data via an app since 2015.
Initially, Facebook stopped the addition of any new apps to the platform, but has since reopened the app review process. But this time, with stricter limitations to the amount of data apps can have access to. Facebook also launched a tool which allows users to delete apps in bulk from their profile settings.
While the restriction can constraint developers, they still allow developers to create social experiences, while protecting people’s information better.
And not just APIs. Facebook is also killing off three mobile apps that users didn't care much about: Hello, Moves, and tbh.
Read: Facebook Updates Privacy Controls, Making It Easier For Users To Manage Their Data