An app that many think is just for fun has gotten the attention of lawmakers, who are now calling for an investigation into the age-progressing,-regressing app FaceApp.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is now asking the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the app that was developed by a Russian-based company, Reuters reported.
Schumer claims FaceApp "users are required to provide full, irrevocable access to their personal photos & data."
Despite where the app was developed, Reuters reported there is no evidence that the company shares the user data with the Russian government.
Still, some are worried about how much information the Russian government can get from American's online habits after the 2016 presidential election and claims that Russia hacked social media to help get President Donald Trump elected. Russian officials said they did not hack the American election, Reuters reported.
FaceApp said the vast majority of its users do not log in to the program so they have no data to identify the person, TechCrunch reported. The photos, however, are uploaded to Wireless Lab's cloud servers but officials say many of the images are deleted within 48 hours after they've been sent, TechCrunch reported.
Company officials said the photos that are stored for a short period of time are for "performance and traffic" purposes and are sent to the storage platform by the user for editing, TechCrunch reported.
Officials also stressed to TechCrunch, "We don't sell or share any user data with any third parties." They also said that despite the company's research and development teams being Russian-based, the user data isn't sent to the country.
The Democratic National Committee has told 2020 presidential candidates and their staff not to use FaceApp, CNN reported. If anyone had used the app prior to the DNC's warning, they were told to delete the program immediately. The DNC also has warned candidates in the past from using devices made by ZTE and Huawei, two Chinese manufacturers, CNN reported.
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