Facebook cuts off ‘find friends’ access for Voxer; policy vague on how other messaging apps will be treated

Facebook is restricting access to friend data for Voxer, the mobile messenger and walkie-talkie app it now identifies as a competitor, a Facebook spokesperson confirms.
Voxer told AllThingsD today that it was given 48-hour notice that it would lose access to the feature that allows users to connect with Facebook and find friends to message with Voxer. Many apps use this feature to grow their user base and make it easy for users to find value in their services, however, Facebook has a policy against competing social networks using its data this way.
Voxer says it does not consider itself a social network, and Facebook likely didn’t view them as a competing service until recently. Facebook added voice messaging to its platform earlier this month.
A Facebook spokesperson, who could not offer an official statement and asked not to be quoted directly, told us that the company’s stance is that apps that duplicate a core functionality of Facebook should not be able to take data out of Facebook without sharing anything back. That justification is not laid out explicitly in the social network’s platform policy, which simply reads:

“Competing social networks: (a) You may not use Facebook Platform to export user data into a competing social network without our permission; (b) Apps on Facebook may not integrate, link to, promote, distribute, or redirect to any app on any other competing social network.”