Despite Assurances, Facebook Will Kill Off the Face.com API, Backstabbing Devs

Facebook doesn't waste too much time shutting down its acquisitions. Few have survived being gobbled up by Facebook, the notable exception being Instagram, the most expensive company the social network ever bought.

A couple of weeks ago when Face.com got acquired, the company assured developers that they're being looked at.

The Face.com API is used by thousands of developers, possibly more, so continuing to support them made sense. Not to Facebook though – the APIs are being shut down, along with everything else related to the site. This is not a gradual phase out; access to the API will be cut off within the next few months.

The problem is, there aren't really any alternatives to the Face.com API; facial recognition technology is scarce and expensive.

There may be hope, as there is some indication that Facebook may offer similar APIs in the future, but don't count on it.