FaceApp is a popular app for manipulating photos with filters
A judge in Brazil believes that Apple and Google distributing an app called FaceApp in their respective app stores is enough to charge them for the app’s blatant disregard for user privacy.
Chances are you’ve heard of FaceApp, and if you haven’t, you’ve at least seen the results of the creepy manipulation of users’ faces on social media. The app lets users alter photos to extreme extents, from changing skin tone and lip size to aging a person.
According to a report from UOL shared by 9to5Mac, Apple and Google have been fined about $3.1 million in Brazil after allowing FaceApp to be distributed on their app stores. Even though Apple and Google aren’t responsible for the development of the app, its availability in Brazil is, and it is allegedly violating the law.
The use case of the app is innocent enough, but the issue lies in FaceApp’s blatant theft of user data using a loophole in legal contracts. This violation of user privacy, even though it is done with user consent (given under false pretenses), has caught the eye of regulators in Brazil.
Judge Douglas de Melo Martins says that Brazilian law prohibits massive and improper collection of personal data without users’ consent. Funny enough, it isn’t so much an issue with the deceptive language as it is the lack of a translated Terms of Service in Portuguese.
Brazilian users can’t provide informed consent to a ToS they can’t read, and that’s likely the route that will make the fine stick. Though, to be fair, English readers don’t know what they are agreeing to either, but that’s not the issue.
Since both Apple and Google “play an active role in the consumer chain, providing infrastructure and conditions for the operation of FaceApp,” the companies are being held responsible. The fine is incredibly small by big tech standards, but that doesn’t mean appeals won’t happen.
The more pricey problem the companies potentially face is the secondary fine levied by the judge. Apple and Google are ordered to pay about $82 per person that downloaded and used FaceApp since June 2020.
Appeals are likely, and the final ruling could influence future court cases not just in Brazil but around the world. If Apple and Google lose the case because of an app on their app stores, it is likely that other countries may use that vector to target other user-hostile apps.
Even as this case seeks to punish Apple and Google for not taking a stronger position with apps they distribute, Brazilian regulator CADE seeks to force Apple to allow side loading. If victorious, users could download FaceApp without Apple’s App Store, whether it violates the law or not.
