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MySpace’s Zero Tolerance Policy for App ScamsPosted by Owen Van Natta November 3, 2009 There has been increased discussion recently about how some application developers on the Web’s major social platforms are misleading consumers with deceptive practices. It’s important that users and developers clearly understand MySpace’s policies and approach to these activities. The MySpace Apps Terms of Use clearly state that we prohibit any deceptive, misleading, and unfair activity through developer applications on MySpace. The Terms of Use require developers to provide accurate information to users and comply with specific rules around what information is being collected, payment terms, and promotional offers. They also prohibit spam and other malicious use. Our Terms of Use were drafted with the following four principles in mind: 1. All MySpace users are entitled to a safe, scam-free application experience. 2. All offers to MySpace users must have a clear and accurate description which is not misleading or deceptive to users. 3. All offers to MySpace users must have a clear and conspicuous explanation of cost with no hidden fees. 4. No application is permitted to incentivize a user to provide their personal information in exchange for virtual goods or currency within the application. Today, we’re adding a fifth principle that clarifies a specific use case that we feel is particularly damaging to the user experience: promotions that include hidden renewals without specific opt-in will not be permitted. Because it’s our belief opt-out offers are misleading and do not have the best interests of the users in mind, we will be updating our Terms of Use this week to better clarify this for users and developers. Principles and policies are nothing without action and we will continue to enforce our Terms of Use to put our users first. If we find or are notified of violations of our Terms of Use we will contact the application developer and require that they modify their practices and adhere to our Terms. If we do not receive a prompt and appropriate response we will, as we have in the past, remove the offending application from the MySpace platform. Developers are our partners and we want to continue our collaborative and meaningful relationship with the development community. Having recently acquired iLike we have access to some of the most successful social application developers with a wealth of knowledge to inform us how we can have a smarter, more thoughtful application strategy. If you have any questions about these policies or principles please reach out to our Partner Relations team at partnerrelations@myspace-inc.com. We appreciate all of the feedback we’ve received from our users and developers and look forward to more great things to come for the MySpace Application Platform.
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