Untold numbers of people have used the Facebook “how you will look when you are old” app FaceApp without actually understanding what it does, who is getting their data, and what they are doing with that data. The Face app T&Cs provide that they own everything you create with or share through the app. And that they can transfer it all to anywhere they have business – including their headquarters in Russia.
Kim Kardashian aged by FaceApp
Now, maybe none of this amounts to anything – after all, just because a company is out of Russia doesn’t automatically mean that it’s going to do something bad with your data. Not at all. However, their Terms and Conditions are extremely broad in what of your data you let them claim ownership of, and what they can do with it.
We are going to cut right to the chase, as this is very serious – the below is directly from FaceApp’s terms and conditions, which means that this is what you legally agree to just by using the Face app:
FaceApp Terms and Conditions that You Agree to When You Use the Facebook Face App
You grant FaceApp a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed, without compensation to you. When you post or otherwise share User Content on or through our Services, you understand that your User Content and any associated information (such as your [username], location or profile photo) will be visible to the public.
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You grant FaceApp consent to use the User Content, regardless of whether it includes an individual’s name, likeness, voice or persona, sufficient to indicate the individual’s identity. By using the Services, you agree that the User Content may be used for commercial purposes. You further acknowledge that FaceApp’s use of the User Content for commercial purposes will not result in any injury to you or to any person you authorized to act on its behalf. You acknowledge that some of the Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions, and you hereby agree that FaceApp may place such advertising and promotions on the Services or on, about, or in conjunction with your User Content. The manner, mode and extent of such advertising and promotions are subject to change without specific notice to you. You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such.
In case that is too much legal mumbo-jumbo for you, here’s what it basically means:
Anything you create with or through FaceApp, and any data you share with FaceApp, becomes the legal property of FaceApp. And they can do whatever they want with it, and there is nothing you can do about it.
If you are one of the unfortunate ones who blindly trusted the app without looking into what they were doing with your data, well, we’re sorry.
Hopefully you are someone who has not used it, and this warning will make sure that you don’t use it.
You can read FaceApp’s terms and conditions here.
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