Associated Incidents
A viral app that added Asian, Black, Caucasian and Indian filters to people's selfies has removed them after being accused of racism.
The update which launched yesterday was met with backlash - with many people criticising it for propagating racial stereotypes.
The filters drew comparison with 'blackface' and 'yellowface' - when white people wear make up to appear to be from a different ethnic group.
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The filters drew comparison with 'blackface' and 'yellowface' - when white people wear make up to appear to be from a different ethnic group. Pictured is American President Donald Trump with the Asian, Black, Caucasian and Indian filters
WHAT IS FACEAPP? The app uses Artificial Intelligence to transform faces. Filters users can choose from include: - Adding a smile - Changing your age - Becoming 'more attractive' - Changing gender The Russia-based company initially denied their new filters were racist but then added that they would be removed.
The Russia-based company initially denied their new filters were racist but then added that they would be removed.
On Wednesday CEO Yaroslav Goncharov said 'the new controversial filters will be removed in the next few hours.'
'Can't believe FaceApp added filters for different races. So offensive!', wrote Twitter user Ethan Booker.
'They don't have any positive or negative connotations associated with them', Mr Goncharov told TechCrunch.
'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,' he said.
The app has 40 million users across Android and iOS devices.
This isn't the first time FaceApp has offended users.
In April, the makers of FaceApp apologised after users claimed the 'hot' filter lightened their skin tone.
The update which launched yesterday was met with backlash - with many people criticising it for propagating racial stereotypes. Pictured is Vice President Mike Pence with the filters
The app's creators claimed it would 'transform your face using Artificial Intelligence', allowing selfie-takers to alter their photos to look old or 'beautify' themselves.
But users have complained after they found that one beautifying option, labelled 'hot', lightens their skin tone.
'We are deeply sorry for this unquestionably serious issue,' wrote Mr Goncharov back in August.
I got an alert for an app I have never used. I couldn't believe it. Why on earth is this OK?! #FaceApp #blackface pic.twitter.com/zDSTxXUFTQ — Kaitlyn Wells (@KaitWells) August 9, 2017
The update, which launched yesterday, was met with backlash - with many people criticising it for propagating racial stereotypes
'It is an unfortunate side-effect of the underlying neural network caused by the training set bias, not intended behaviour.
'To mitigate the issue, we have renamed the effect to exclude any positive connotation associated with it.'
Those who download the app found the 'hot' filter has been renamed 'spark'.
Another Twitter user, kung fu khary, wrote in April: 'So this app is apparently racist as hell. But at least I'm sassy.' The app appeared to make his skin lighter when using the 'hot' filter
Many users took to Twitter to complain about the app.
User Terrence AB Johnson wrote: '#faceapp isn't just bad it's also racist... [hot] filter=bleach my skin and make my nose your opinion of European. No thanks #uninstalled'.
Another user, kung fu khary, wrote: 'So this app is apparently racist as hell. But at least I'm sassy.'
Alongside options to make a selfie-taker change gender (left hand image) or look older (right hand image) the app gives users the chance to 'beautify' themselves
Twitter user Terrence AB Johnson shared the results of his FaceApp experience. When asked to make his picture 'hot' the app lightened his skin and changed the shape of his nose
The app's creators claim it will 'transform your face using Artificial Intelligence', allowing selfie-takers to transform their photos
IS MEITU RACIST? Earlier this year people accused the popular photo editing app Meitu of being racist. The free Chinese app has a 'hand-drawn' feature that can 'transform your photos into hand paintings,' according to the firm. This means it'll give you huge, sparkling eyes, smooth skin, and blushing cheeks. The feature comes with a number of different filters, including Angelic, Blossoms, Fairy Tale, Mermaid, and Petals. And some will make you look like something right out of anime. Some users claimed this feature gave them 'yellow face'.
And user Haack the planet said: 'Nine year old son noticed the 'hot' filter on FaceApp just makes us look lighter. 'That's racist!' He yelled.'
FaceApp is not the first beautifying app to spark controversy over racism claims.
Earlier this year people accused the popular photo editing app Meitu of giving users 'yellow face'.
The free Chinese Meitu app is available for both Android and iPhone, and can be used for regular photo editing, like removing ble