FaceApp's new selfie feature deemed racist, sparks mad backlash
[Photo by: Twitter / @atbobb]
FaceApp has gained internet popularity, and it’s been controversial since its start, and it doesn't look like their controversy will be ending anytime soon.
The facial filter app now has problematic new filters—Asian, Black, Caucasian and Indian—and the internet is not happy.
The app has reached out to Buzzfeed to say that the filters are not meant to carry any kind of negative connotation.
Read their statement to Buzzfeed below:
“The ethnicity change filters have been designed to be equal in all aspects. They don’t have any positive or negative connotations associated with them. They are even represented by the same icon. In addition to that, the list of those filters is shuffled for every photo, so each user sees them in a different order.”
“The 'Spark' filter was quite a different case. It implied a positive transformation and therefore, it was unacceptable for an algorithm to implicitly change the ethnicity origin.”
However, this is clearly problematic, and the internet is showing their displeasure for the app.
FaceApp. Guys. pic.twitter.com/4zKT2e817e
— Stangle's Kid (@lisasaurstomp) August 9, 2017
#FaceApp u ok hun? Cause these new blackface, brownface and yellowface filters FOR SURE aren't �� pic.twitter.com/E9rcNK3Nux
— Laura Clark (@lauravslife) August 9, 2017
FaceApp: for $200K/year + equity I'll come on board as the person who tells y'all “don't”. pic.twitter.com/MlH0jJv2JJ
— ��Andrew C (@arc315) August 9, 2017
faceapp hq: ok so what are we gonna do next
employee: bring race into it
hq: GOLD— hayden (@haydenmcasey13) August 9, 2017
Go fuck yourself faceapp pic.twitter.com/uQf5nb27Oy
— Leila Jinnah (@visiblpantyline) August 9, 2017
What are your thoughts on the controversial facial filters? Let us know in the comments below.