Is Facebook Inc (FB) Cracking Down Too Hard on App Developers?

Short answer: no.

Since its IPO of $9.50 in 2011, the gaming company enjoyed a brief peak at $14.70, before crashing to $2.72 in August 2012. Since then, the company’s stock has struggled to even break above $5. Potential reasons include plagiarism lawsuits, as well as the fact that, like photo application Instagram (which Facebook purchased for $741 million in September 2012), Zynga is simply a one-note kind of company. Will taking care of computer-animated cows be relevant 10 years from now? Even the developers of Facebook’s most popular apps are not immune to failure.

Should you unfriend FB’s stock?
The controversy with Twitter’s Vine isn’t going to derail Facebook’s recent momentum. However, if more incidences like this start to surface, it could damage the company’s reputation with the market, which Facebook has fought hard to stabilize. In order to ensure positive morale with its shareholders, Facebook will need to take greater steps toward improving transparency with its policies and its actions, instead of mysteriously blocking companies, only to offer a vague explanation after the fact. If investing in a company means owning a piece of its business, shareholders should know exactly what’s going on, and right now, that simply isn’t happening.

The article Is Facebook Cracking Down Too Hard on App Developers? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Caroline Bennett.

Fool contributor Caroline Bennett has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Facebook and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook and Google.

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