If you’ve been on social media for the past few days, you’ve likely seen people posting photos of what they’ll look like in a few decades, created using FaceApp’s aging filter. Amid all the fun, some people have raised potential privacy issues, citing FaceApp user agreement fine print about giving developers permission to use your photos, name, username, likeness, or persona for any purpose. Forbes cited many developers as saying, however, that the privacy concerns don’t appear to be worse than any other apps you probably have on your phone.
Turns out FaceApp is made by a company in Russia. You’re giving it access to all of your photos. And in their privacy policy, by using the app, you grant them permission to use your altered AND non-altered photos however they want for eternity. It also immediately uploads your photos to a server rather than just processing them on your phone. The company says they’re using a data center in the U.S., but there’s nothing stopping them from moving those photos elsewhere.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer yesterday (July 17th) asked the FBI and Federal Trade Commission to look into FaceApp, saying he’s concerned it could pose, quote, “national security and privacy risks.” Now that you have all that information, you can decide if you want to FaceApp age yourself or not.
