Everyone looks old as dirt, and Chuck Schumer won’t stand for it.
The Senate minority leader from New York has issued a warning on Twitter about FaceApp, the viral program that Americans have been using to make their faces look old.
It’s funny until you realize that using the app gives it unlimited access to the photos you process through it and that might pose a security risk for millions of Americans.
BIG: Share if you used #FaceApp:
The @FBI & @FTC must look into the national security & privacy risks now
Because millions of Americans have used it
It’s owned by a Russia-based company
And users are required to provide full, irrevocable access to their personal photos & data pic.twitter.com/cejLLwBQcr
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 18, 2019
In a tweet on Wednesday, Schumer said the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission should get involved, as millions of Americans have relinquished their data to the app’s Russian developers.
“Given the growing popularity of the FaceApp and these national security and privacy concerns, I ask that the FBI assess whether the personal data uploaded by millions of Americans onto FaceApp may be finding its way into the hands of the Russian government, or entities with ties to the Russian government,” Schumer wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and FTC Chairman Joseph Simons.
Likewise, the DNC has warned 2020 candidates not to hop on the viral trend.
The app’s team told TechCrunch that while FaceApp does process most photos in the cloud, the user data isn’t transferred to Russia or shared with any third parties. Using the app does mean that it can keep your processed photos and the personal information you share, such as a name or username, but it doesn’t mean the app can take all the photos on your phone or share them with Russian rogues.
However, Americans should still think twice before processing their information through the app.
“In the age of facial recognition technology as both a surveillance and security use, it is essential that users have the information they need to ensure their personal and biometric data remains secure, including from hostile foreign nations,” Schumer wrote.
Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time the government has had to weigh in on a viral trend in the past couple of weeks. A joke Facebook group gathering people to storm Area 51 has gained more than a million followers, and the Air Force had to take the time to remind millennials that national security is no joke.
“As a matter of practice, we do not discuss specific security measures, but any attempt to illegally access military installations or military training areas is dangerous,” Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews told ABC News in a statement.
The moral of the story, if there is one, is that millennials are committed to their memes. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t consider giving them up.
