FaceApp: U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer Calls For Investigation
FaceApp, the chart-topping Russian-made which allows users to see how
they will look as they age, found itself in the eye of a political storm in the
U.S. on Wednesday, with one senator urging an FBI investigation into its
“national security and privacy risks”.
In a report by AFP has it that a celebrity favourite, the app deploys artificial
intelligence to modify users’ photos, adding wrinkles or subtracting years
from their faces.
But, on Wednesday, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sounded
the alarm over FaceApp’s Russian developer, calling for the FBI and the
consumer protection agency FTC to “look into the national security and
privacy risks” connected to the application.
“FaceApp’s location in Russia raises questions regarding how and when the
company provides access to the data of U.S. citizens to third parties,
including potentially foreign governments,” the New York senator said in a
letter to the FBI.
“It would be deeply troubling if the sensitive personal information of US
citizens was provided to a hostile foreign power actively engaged in cyber
hostilities against the United States,” he added.
Currently the most downloaded free app on Google Play with more than 100
million users, FaceApp was launched two years ago and went viral after its
latest editing tool, an aging filter, sparked a flood of celebrity selfies.
The developers are based in the Skolkovo high-tech hub near Moscow, often
called Russia’s Silicon Valley, and its roots have stirred concern also within
the US Democratic Party.
The party’s National Committee has warned campaigners in the primaries
ahead of the 2020 presidential election to “delete the app immediately,” the
Washington Post said.
The party is particularly sensitive to any possibility of surveillance involving
Moscow after some Democratic officials were targeted by Russian hackers
during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
Fears of cyber-espionage have flared in recent years, with US authorities
worried about foreign governments having access to and potentially
misusing personal data belonging to millions of Americans.
In May a Chinese mobile gaming company that bought top gay dating app
Grindr said it would sell it by June 2020 following pressure from US
authorities.
U.S. officials reportedly feared that people with American security clearances
who use Grindr could be blackmailed if China’s government demanded user
data from Beijing-based Kunlun Tech.
With millions of users in the US, FaceApp’s Russian backers have not
responded to Schumer’s letter.
But its CEO told the Washington Post that Russian authorities did not have
any access to any user data.
Yaroslav Goncharov also told the newspaper that most photos are deleted
from its servers within 48 hours and said the app did not use the pictures for
any other purpose.
FaceApp is no stranger to controversy. Soon after its launch, a ‘hot’ filter
that automatically lightened faces sparked accusations of racism.
The same year, FaceApp’s developers were forced to remove a feature that
allowed users to change their ethnicity, prompting some to liken the practice
to ‘digital blackface’.
But the controversies have done little to dim the app’s allure among selfie-
lovers and celebrities including music superstar Drake, rapper Cardi B and
NBA champion Steph Curry.
they will look as they age, found itself in the eye of a political storm in the
U.S. on Wednesday, with one senator urging an FBI investigation into its
“national security and privacy risks”.
In a report by AFP has it that a celebrity favourite, the app deploys artificial
intelligence to modify users’ photos, adding wrinkles or subtracting years
from their faces.
But, on Wednesday, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sounded
the alarm over FaceApp’s Russian developer, calling for the FBI and the
consumer protection agency FTC to “look into the national security and
privacy risks” connected to the application.
“FaceApp’s location in Russia raises questions regarding how and when the
company provides access to the data of U.S. citizens to third parties,
including potentially foreign governments,” the New York senator said in a
letter to the FBI.
“It would be deeply troubling if the sensitive personal information of US
citizens was provided to a hostile foreign power actively engaged in cyber
hostilities against the United States,” he added.
Currently the most downloaded free app on Google Play with more than 100
million users, FaceApp was launched two years ago and went viral after its
latest editing tool, an aging filter, sparked a flood of celebrity selfies.
The developers are based in the Skolkovo high-tech hub near Moscow, often
called Russia’s Silicon Valley, and its roots have stirred concern also within
the US Democratic Party.
The party’s National Committee has warned campaigners in the primaries
ahead of the 2020 presidential election to “delete the app immediately,” the
Washington Post said.
The party is particularly sensitive to any possibility of surveillance involving
Moscow after some Democratic officials were targeted by Russian hackers
during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
Fears of cyber-espionage have flared in recent years, with US authorities
worried about foreign governments having access to and potentially
misusing personal data belonging to millions of Americans.
In May a Chinese mobile gaming company that bought top gay dating app
Grindr said it would sell it by June 2020 following pressure from US
authorities.
U.S. officials reportedly feared that people with American security clearances
who use Grindr could be blackmailed if China’s government demanded user
data from Beijing-based Kunlun Tech.
With millions of users in the US, FaceApp’s Russian backers have not
responded to Schumer’s letter.
But its CEO told the Washington Post that Russian authorities did not have
any access to any user data.
Yaroslav Goncharov also told the newspaper that most photos are deleted
from its servers within 48 hours and said the app did not use the pictures for
any other purpose.
FaceApp is no stranger to controversy. Soon after its launch, a ‘hot’ filter
that automatically lightened faces sparked accusations of racism.
The same year, FaceApp’s developers were forced to remove a feature that
allowed users to change their ethnicity, prompting some to liken the practice
to ‘digital blackface’.
But the controversies have done little to dim the app’s allure among selfie-
lovers and celebrities including music superstar Drake, rapper Cardi B and
NBA champion Steph Curry.
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