New York – A controversial Russian smartphone app is facing flak from the FBI.
The FBI recently labeled FaceApp “a potential counterintelligence threat” and said it will look into whether the popular smartphone app has been used by the Russian government to interfere in US elections, the Daily News has learned.
In a November 25 letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, an assistant FBI director said the Russian-owned app – which allows people to make themselves look younger or older in photos – poses a threat because of the sweeping ways in which the Kremlin can access “telephonic and online communications.”
“The FBI considers any mobile application or similar product developed in Russia, such as FaceApp, to be a potential counterintelligence threat, based on the data the product collects, its privacy and terms of use policies, and the legal mechanisms available to the government of Russia that permit access to data within Russia’s borders,” the assistant director, Jill Tyson, wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The News on Monday.
