Are you signing off more than your face?
FaceApp is wildly popular but it could open up a risky pathway for users, warns Mark Giancaspro
Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Started in 2017, its recent popularity is largely because of Hollywood stars posting their humorous edited pictures online.
FaceApp uses “neural network” artificial intelligence technology to alter people’s faces with various filters. Users take or upload a photo from their phone and the app’s algorithms do the rest. You can make yourself look younger or older, swap your gender, or transform your expression.
The ageing filter is easily the favourite. Drake, Hilary Duff, Gordon Ramsay, and LeBron James are among celebrities who showcased their future faces on social media.
Last week, the app was in
the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as keen-eyed critics noticed the app’s terms of use give its Russian parent company, Wireless Lab, a very broad, global and lifelong licence to use the images.
In short, once you sign up and use the app, the company can do pretty much whatever it likes with your photos. It could plaster a wrinkled version of your face across a billboard, website or the side of a skyscraper, and you would have no legal recourse.
Of course, as experts have rightly pointed out, this is extremely unlikely to happen. Russia’s only interest in your photo would be for developing facial recognition software. Wireless Lab has also said most photos are deleted within 48 hours of upload and no information is sent to Russia, but rather is stored temporarily on the company’s American servers.
More concerning, however, is the range of other disturbing conditions users unwittingly sign up to with FaceApp. The terms of use comprise a legally binding contract, yet research tells us virtually no one ever reads the fine print.
This is worrying, given that section 15 of FaceApp’s terms all but bans you from taking legal action against the firm. You are only permitted to lodge small claims (up to certain limits) or seek specific court orders. Otherwise, you have to resolve all legal disputes through confidential arbitration in California.
Thankfully, you can opt out — but you have only 30 days from registration to do it, so most of the app’s 100 million users are already too late.
For those who recently bought into the hype, the clock is ticking. You can opt out by sending written notification to: Wireless Lab OOO 16 Avtovskaya 401 St Petersburg, 198096 Russia
You must include your full name and indicate your clear intent to opt out of binding arbitration. If you do this, standard Californian law applies and you retain your legal right to sue if you want.
If you signed up to FaceApp within the past week and you’re based in Australia or New Zealand, you’ll want to act quickly, given that letters take up to 14 business days to reach Russia via international post.
Section 17 of the terms is also concerning. This clause gives Wireless Lab the right to change the terms at any time, and that the company “may” attempt to notify users but will otherwise simply post the updated terms online.
In theory, nothing could stop the company suddenly imposing a use charge, and the only way to find out would be to continuously check the terms of use for updates, or your App Store-linked bank account for withdrawals.
Section 10 also deserves a mention. It states that you will “indemnify, defend and hold harmless” FaceApp and its “officers, directors, agents, partners and employees” from “any loss, liability, claim, demand, damages, expenses or costs” relating to your use of the app. In stark terms, this means you effectively can’t sue FaceApp, and if anyone else tries, you’re paying.
FaceApp is undeniably fun, and is the most popular free app in Australia, ahead of Instagram and YouTube. Downloads of the app to US iPhones have increased by 561 per cent in the past month.
A playful app that spreads joy can be a good thing. But it’s crucial users know what they are signing up for, or many of their legal rights will vanish and their legal exposure will be extraordinary.