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The Application Verification Program will see Facebook judge applications on their trustworthiness, transparency and usefulness, with succesful entrants receiving a badge of recommendation.

Developers hoping to pin one of the shiny badges to their application's chest must pay a fee of $375. The certification lasts for a year, after which

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they must pay the same again for another 12 months.

According to Facebook, verified applications will receive more visibility through notifications and the News Feed.

The scheme has stirred rancour in the developer community. "Is this a joke?" Wonders MFlynn, speaking on the Facebook forum. "How many hours will it take to review each app? To make matters worse, that fee only covers 12 months of verification."

"This seems unfair. My application is already 'well designed,' 'trustworthy' and 'meaningful' to thousands of users. I've spent a lot of time making it that way," says b3n.

"Why should I pay $375 a year just because Facebook allowed so many useless, spammy applications in the first place?"

Facebook says the seals will begin to appear in early 2009.