If you’ve been on social media recently, you may have seen your favorite celebrities “Face App” themselves to become old and gray. The founder of the company, Yaroslav Goncharov, made the app back in 2017, and it’s recently become popular once again due to celebrity influence. The app compiles photos of yourself and projects with editing and AI software what you may look like within a certain amount of years.
Celebrities such as Carrie Underwood, The Jonas Brothers, Drake, and even Steph Curry have tried the app for themselves, among countless others. Call it curiosity, many people are hopping onto the viral trend of aging themselves. Is it healthy to do so? This fun engaging concept allows people to visualize what they may look like in the future and brings joy to users and their audiences.
Privacy Concerns:
To let the app transform your features, you have to allow access to your photos. This essentially means that your granting permission to the app, to access all of your photos and not just the photo you’re uploading. Part of Face App’s privacy terms states that the photos can be used for whatever the company deems necessary. Promotional or otherwise, they can use your photos without compensation and you have very little rights to recoil their actions. The app also states that they can change the terms of privacy by posting a new terms and services agreement at any time.
This definitely warrants a red flag for users and their privacy. What seems to be a fun viral trend could actually be a breach to your privacy through your photos. Whenever downloading the app, make sure you give the terms and services conditions a glance because you never know what you’re fully agreeing to if you don’t. Many people don’t read the fine print, but it is more important than ever before to know that your security and privacy could be at risk, by using these apps. Stay safe and secure by reading what you’re agreeing to, even if it seems harmless.
Thanks for reading, stay safe and aware my friends.