[bengotow]

I think FaceApp in particular strikes a chord in the United States because it's owned by a Russian Company. Name + faces (and therefore age and gender and race) + Location is the kind of data that enabled a lot of granular facebook ad targeting in 2016.

[Raphmedia]

As someone who is not an American citizen and does not live in the United-States, I get the same fears and issues from companies based in the US. I distrust the American and Russian governments and companies equally.

[armandososa]

As a Mexican, I honestly distrust Trump more than Putin.

[kofejnik]

and that is a serious mistake, I believe

[umeshunni]

> I think FaceApp in particular strikes a chord in the United States because it's owned by a Russian Company.

So, it's purely Xenophobia then.

[bengotow]

Hmm, perhaps - though I feel the distrust progressives in the US feel toward Russia is warranted given their (well investigated) efforts to meddle in US politics, etc. I think xenophobia is more of an /unwarranted/ fear + hatred.

It is unfortunate that this fear extends to private Russian businesses, but it's difficult to discern how separate entities really are in tightly managed countries.

I totally agree this is getting into some cold-war-era territory though... US vs. Huawei has a similar vibe.

[hanspeter]

Except they don't have names. Just a photo. And maybe an IP address.

Photos that could also easily be scraped from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram etc.