However, Sandra Liu Huang, a Facebook platform program manager, said concerned developers aren't fully understanding the aim and scope of the Application Verification program.

For starters, Facebook envisions the program as a purely optional one, where only a few hundred developers will participate initially, she said. Facebook currently has 48,000 applications in its directory and about 400,000 developers registered in its developer program.

"Verification is an opportunity for developers interested in creating a long term business to be able to demonstrate to users they're providing a trustworthy experience," she said in a phone interview, adding that the Facebook platform will continue to be open and free to all developers.

Facebook will offer discounts on the review fee to students and non-profit organizations, and may lower the cost of re-verifying applications that were previously granted certification, she said. It is necessary for Facebook to require that applications be re-submitted for review after 12 months because it's likely they will have evolved and changed significantly during that time, Liu Huang said.

From the end-user perspective, the idea is to draw in members who so far have been unwilling to install third-party applications by giving them extra assurance that certain applications have been vetted by Facebook, she said.