So both Venturebeat and Techcrunch are reporting on the incoming "verified app" program that Facebook is launching.

Here is the official Facebook response:

Apps apply to be in the program, and are judged based on the company’s trustworthiness criteria, which include being “Secure,” “Respectful,” and “Transparent.” Verified developers will get a series of benefits, the company tells me. On the product side, these include the ability for an app to let users send more invites and notification to friends, and greater prominence of app activity in news feeds. Developers will also be able to put a “Verified App” badge on their apps, and in the site-wide app directory. On the business end, they’ll get a discount on tickets to Facebook’s annual developer conference, and a $100 credit for purchasing ads on Facebook.

Something just rubs me the wrong way on this.

First off, why can't Facebook users decide which apps are spam and which are great?  It seems to me that Facebook has went out of its way to give users the opportunity to give the thumbs up or down (literally) on their interaction with Facebook and the feed.  This move just seems like a strange decision with this fact in mind.

Secondly, will every app that meets the above 3 (plus additional critera) critera be verified?  If not, this is seriously problematic, as it would give an unfair advantage to the earliest entries into app markets -- not the best apps.

Lastly, what happens to apps that are unverified?  If we assume that Facebook will determine app acceptability, then should it also police app existence?  What is the purpose of having verified and unverified apps, other than to help users?  And if helping users is the focus, why leave apps in that are not Secure + Respectful + Transparent?

It just makes very little sense to me.