One of Facebook’s largest (12th, in fact) suddenly had it’s hit title Critter Island, along with all of it’s other properties pulled from Facebook this past Friday evening. A quick look at Inside Social Games’ AppData figures confirm – all LOLapps now redirect to Facebook.com.
LOLapps, which in addition to Critter Island hosts a number of other games, quizzes and gift apps on the Facebook platform suddenly found themselves in the dark over the weekend. Those playing Critter Island, or expecting to I should say, were greeted with the following message, “We’re sorry that Critter Island et al is not currently available. We’re actively working to resolve these issues and will keep you posted. Please stand by!” Prior to the pull, LOLapps was attracting well over 14 million monthly active users, with just under one million daily active users. Gone.
And now comes the most troubling part – why? In an extremely brief statement, Facebook reps commented, “We have disabled applications from LOLapps due to violations of our terms.”
The rumor mill is abuzz with speculation, with some sources reporting that LOLapps didn’t see this one coming, and in effect, have been blind sided by Facebook’s decision to say “No way, Jose!” The Quora forum has seen a blizzard of activity, with many a user speculating that Facebook’s decision to pull the plug is based on LOLapps exploited a bug in the platform’s system regarding the posting of messages to user walls. LOLapps CEO Arjun Sethi isn’t saying a word, “We can’t provide comment at this time. We will update you as soon as we are able to.”
This wouldn’t be the first time that Facebook has decided to ix-nay a developer. You’ll remember the Pencake saga that erupted over this past summer, with several of their quiz apps suddenly vanish overnight. Pencake’s case was more clearcut, as their got caught with their hands in the “do not spam” cookie jar, where as LOLapps may or may not be in the same situation.
While rules and regulations are put in place to protect the business and end consumers, Facebook’s apparent lack of “Cut it out or we’re shutting you down,” messaging doesn’t bode well at a time when the platform is trying to convince and welcome developers to the table, much to the “ummm…errrr, how exactly is this better for us?” coming from a number of developers.
It’s clear to say that without Facebook, LOLapps wouldn’t have a bright future ahead of it. As most policy violations usually end up as a stern first time warning, given Facebook’s lack of initial contact, let’s hope they’re not looking to make an example out of LOLapps.
