FaceApp spy trap

Chuck: FBI sez Russia may be using it to twist elex

A controversial Russian smartphone app is facing flak from the FBI.

The FBI recently labeled FaceApp “a potential counterintelligence threat” and said it will look into whether Russia is using the popular smartphone gadget to attack American elections, the Daily News has learned.

In a Nov. 25 letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, an assistant FBI director said the Russian-owned app — which allows people to make themselves look younger or older in photos — poses a potential threat because of the sweeping ways in which the Kremlin can access cell phone data.

“The FBI considers any mobile application or similar product developed in Russia, such as FaceApp, to be a potential counterintelligence threat, based on the data the product collects, its privacy and terms of use policies, and the legal mechanisms available to the government of Russia that permit access to data within Russia’s borders,” the assistant director, Jill Tyson, wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The News on Monday.

As a result, an investigation will be launched if the FBI

“assesses” that “elected officials, candidates, political campaigns, or political parties” in the U.S. have been targets of “foreign influence operations involving FaceApp,” Tyson said.

Tyson’s letter marks the first time the FBI has officially called out FaceApp and other Russian smartphone apps as potential threats to U.S. election security.

The determination came in response to a July 17 letter from Schumer (D-N.Y.) calling on the bureau to investigate whether FaceApp could “pose national security and privacy risks for millions of U.S. citizens.”

In a phone interview with The News on Monday afternoon, Schumer lauded the FBI for acting on his request, but stressed that the bureau needs to “get to the whole bottom of this.”

“The FBI has to see what Russia might be doing with this information,” the New York Democrat said.

Schumer urged people to scrub FaceApp from their phones and also said platforms like Apple’s App Store should stop offering it.

“We should be worried about Russia’s tentacles getting deeper into American elections,” he said. “We can never shrug our shoulders at national security.”

The FBI comment. declined to

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FaceApp, which lets people make themselves look younger or older in photos, gives Kremlin access to cell phone data, sparking FBI probe.