FaceApp, which was released in 2017, went viral this week with celebrities and other public personalities all around the world sharing photos of themselves edited through the app. The app’s makers say it uses artificial intelligence technology to edit the photos. On Thursday morning, it was the top app on the US Apple App Store.
“I ask that the FBI assess whether the personal data uploaded by millions of Americans onto FaceApp may be finding its way into the hand of the Russian government, or entities with ties to the Russian government,” he wrote.
Schumer also raised concerns about the company’s terms of service, writing, “I have serious concerns regarding both the protection of the data that is being aggregated as well as whether users are aware of who may have access to it.”
“Most images are deleted from our servers within 48 hours from the upload date,” the makers also told the outlet.
“This app allows users to perform different transformations on photos of people, such as aging the person in the picture. Unfortunately, this novelty is not without risk: FaceApp was developed by Russians,” Wednesday’s alert from Bob Lord, the DNC’s chief security officer, read.
“It’s not clear at this point what the privacy risks are, but what is clear is that the benefits of avoiding the app outweigh the risks,” Lord continued.