Facebook’s willingness to copy rivals’ apps seen as hurting innovation

TL;DR - Among other methods, Facebook farms app usage data from a mobile VPN app that it acquired to ascertain which popular features should be copied into Facebook properties.

My take: The Big Four have simply reached a point where it's better to copy than acquihire in some cases. That should be good for advancing the leading edge of (consumer tech) innovation except that parts of the ecosystem are still enamored with "Social feature for X" ("SFFX") startups.

VC-types usually argue against or ignore feature-like apps because they aren't defensible. So it seems incredulous if any are claiming Facebook-copying kills innovation.

More likely IMHO, is that the rate at which they can flip the SFFX startups into quickly won acquihires is bottoming out. So innovation in this context will remain under assault until better investment theses around consumer tech (e.g. blockchain apps) are solidified.