FaceApp is not a new application, but it is currently living through a sort of ”renessaince” thanks to thousands of people using a new option to make their faces look older, therefore taking a peek at what they might look like in a dozen or so or more years. It is a fun thing to do, but, as is the case with many fun activities, there is a dark side to it. In the case of Faceapp its dark side is, sadly, Russia.

The problem lies in FaceApp’s servers, places where the data of all the FaceApp users is being held. These servers are located in Russia. Russian government, not being particulary lawful unless it suits them, enjoys using illegal sources of data to fulfill its own ends. Facebook, being a greedy little bastard who will sell its users’ data to anyone in a blink of an eye, would not be hard to persuade to lend its servers’ contents to russian services. Such data can help the Russians in honing their identification algorithms, as well as improve their deepfake tech.

Of course, all the above ideas are just suppositions; nothing has been proven yet. Still, many specialists consider that scenario to be very likely.