FaceApp

I'm not a big follower of social media trends, but I did notice recently when everyone in my Facebook feed was suddenly posting photos that predicted what they would look like when they are 30 years older. I found it a little creepy, but just kind of ignored it. Then I started seeing people posting articles about the app that makes these predictive photos, FaceApp, and its Russian origins. The headlines warned users not to download or use this app, because to do so would be giving their data to a Russian company that could ostensibly share it with the Russian government.

I was a bit curious about this, so I clicked on one of the articles. It was an article from CNN, and it warned that the company that created this app is possibly using it to collect data, including entire photo libraries. They claimed that because the company's terms of service was questionable it was possible that data could be collected and shared with the Russian government.  They warn that even though the company claims the data is not shared with any Russian entities, despite its Russian origins,  it is still better to avoid downloading it. I was curious about the terms of service, so I searched and read several more articles. The one I found on Fox News was very similar to the one found on CNN, with the exception that the terms of service are spelled out.

I also read an article from the New York Times which I thought was much more nuanced in its approach. They explained a lot of the technical background related to concerns about security, and concluded that this app isn't collecting entire photo galleries or personal information in the way the initial claims stated. The information in general was much more robust. For instance, whole the other two articles simply state that the company claims that data isn't shared with Russian entities, the NYT article informs the reader that the photos are processed by Amazon and Google, which is much more specific.

I know this is no major revelation, but I just found the difference in these articles interesting. If I were a person who got my new solely from FOX or CNN, then I would walk away from this with a slanted and incomplete picture of this story. This happens so frequently anymore that I almost always look at several news stories when I am interested in a story. It's also a snapshot of the ways that social media use can put people at risk, even if that wasn't the case this time.