This archive report was first published on 18 July 2019.
Published on July 18, 2019, a statement by FaceApp addressed concerns over user data privacy. According to the company, when a user selects a photograph to alter, that image — and only that image — is uploaded to FaceApp servers for processing.
FaceApp explained that it might store an uploaded photo in the cloud for performance and traffic reasons, with most images deleted from servers within 48 hours from the upload date.
However, the company reserves the right to share some user information as outlined in its privacy policy, which includes using third-party analytics tools to measure traffic and usage trends.
Despite its research-and-development team being based in Russia, FaceApp claimed that user data was not transferred there, with photo processing performed on servers operated by Amazon and Google.
Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, requested an investigation into the app, citing concerns over security, data retention, and transparency.
However, Ivan Rodriguez, a software engineer at Google, found little cause for concern, stating that the app collected little identifiable data beyond the photos users chose to alter.
