Privacy concerns over FaceApp's old-age filter

Company has Russian roots

SAN ANTONIO – What's up with the FaceApp? If you're on social media, you've probably seen friends and celebrities posting pictures of themselves as an old man or woman. 

The photos were created with a free mobile app that can alter a person's face to look older or younger.

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Everybody’s doing it...🤷‍♀️ @mfisher1212

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(Scroll down for more celebrity FaceApp photos.)

It doesn't just alter how old people look, it can change their hair color or style, add a beard or mustache or tattoo, swap genders replace the background of your photo and literally put a smile on your face.

Sounds fun, right? Actually, there are some privacy concerns with the popular app.

The privacy policy from the FaceApp website, effective Jan. 20, 2017, states that information collected by the app could be used for targeting online ads and other marketing.

That's typical with many apps.

However, what some are finding disconcerting is that the photo editor was created by a team of Russian developers and the policy states any information submitted, including personal information, could be transferred "to a country and jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction."

You might not care about your privacy rights on silly photos. However, they may be able to access more than photos of people.

Users of the FaceApp and others like it, typically agree to allow the app to access the photos on their phones. That could be problematic for anyone who has ever taken a screenshot of banking information, passwords or other sensitive data.

Click here to read FaceApp's full privacy policy.

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About the Author:

Julie Moreno has worked in local television news for more than 25 years. She came to KSAT as a news producer in 2000. After producing thousands of newscasts, she transitioned to the digital team in 2015. She writes on a wide variety of topics from breaking news to trending stories and manages KSAT’s daily digital content strategy.