FBI says Russian mobile apps a 'potential counterintelligence threat'

In a response to a US lawmaker's query about Russian origin face-editing photo app FaceApp, Federal Bureau of Investigation said on December 2 that any app from Russia has a "potential counterintelligence threat". app went viral in 2019 due to a filter that s photos of users’ faces. Democratic National Committee warned party’s 2020 presidential candidates against using it after FBI statement. Democratic US Senate mirity leer Chuck Schumer for FBI and Federal Tre Commission was also asked to conduct national security reviews. re is strong evidence against app that proves that it leaks data to Russian Government. Yet Moscow’s ability to access communications directly via internet service providers makes any app built re risky, FBI wrote in a letter to Schumer on a vember 25. FBI assistant director Jill Tyson said that ncy is investigating FaceApp over its ties to Russia. Concerns raised over FaceApp as its terms of service and privacy policy allowed for app's developers to get permanent rights to people's ims, as well as provide data to vertisers. 

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" FBI considers any mobile application or similar product developed in Russia, such as FaceApp, to be a potential counterintelligence threat, based on data product collects, its privacy and terms of use policies, and legal mechanisms available to Government of Russia that permit access to data within Russia's borders," Tyson wrote in letter.

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Faceapp dismisses accusations

app launched back in 2017 and grually became popular for its filters within 2 years. Wireless Lab, a company based in St Petersburg developed photo editing app. app's chief executive officer, Yaroslav Goncharov, used to be an executive at Yandex, widely kwn as “Russia’s Google”. Following accusations, company has denied selling or sharing user data with third parties. In a statement, it said that user data is never transferred to Russia and most ims are deleted from its servers within 48 hours of submission.

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