Local tech engineers warn of privacy concerns with FaceApp

SALISBURY, Md. – National lawmakers are sounding the alarm around privacy concerns with FaceApp, an app that millions of Americans have used.

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has called for a federal investigation into the Russia-based company over what he says are potential national security and privacy risks to Americans.

And experts locally agree, saying free apps aren’t free, they use apps like FaceApp to gain access to your pictures and gather your information.

When you allow apps to have access to this information, we’re told there is nothing you can do, and they can be used for things like advertisements, gossips, and even slander.

“They can access your pictures, people take pictures of checks, of their social security card, or different things for different reasons. They can gather those pictures and scan the pictures for actual data,” said network engineer Brian Alloway, with IMPACT Technology Group.

FaceApp has responded to this in a statement, that while its research and development team is based in Russia, no user data are transferred there.

By Wednesday, FaceApp had topped Apple’s and Google’s app download charts.