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Social media went into a frenzy yesterday about the latest top downloaded app "New Profile Pic" after a lot of media saying it will send your data to Russia.

With headlines like

Warnings issued over New Profile Pic app initially registered in Russia collecting large amounts of personal data
Independent
Russia is after YOUR personal data: Experts warn internet users not to download latest online craze New Profile Pic that hoovers up your details and sends them to Moscow
Dailymail
Warning issued over profile picture app that's 'sending data to Russia'
Reach Groups many publications
Only the Independent says a warning, the rest state that data IS being sent to Moscow / Russia.

The reporting frenzy appears to have been started by noting that the domain name had a registration address in Moscow.

After checking what has been reported by snopes.com and the developers themselves we believe this is scaremongering and fake news.

Yesterday, May 11th, snopes.com issued a statement

Is ‘New Profile Pic’ App a Russian Malware Scam?
There's little evidence to suggest that this app is any more invasive in its collection of user data than other apps.

In May 2022, a new profile pic app, officially named “NewProfilePic Picture Editor” in the Apple Store and “NewProfilePic: Profile Picture” in the Google Play store, shot to the top of mobile charts with hundreds of thousands of downloads. As people posted photos from this new app, a piece of mobile software that uses artificial intelligence to create profile pics that look as if they had been painted, messages started circulating on social media claiming that this app was some sort of Russian malware scam.

Some social media users claimed the app was stealing data in a criminal fashion. Others claimed it was based in Russia and connected to the Kremlin. Another rumor accused the app of being malware and taking money out of people’s accounts. We looked into each of these claims and found that they were largely without merit or unsubstantiated. While this app does collect some user data, its privacy policy isn’t out of the ordinary.

People are often surprised to learn just how much personal data mobile apps are allowed to access. When claims started circulating that the New Profile Pic app was some sort of scam, many people shared screenshots of the app’s privacy policy.

One person shared a screenshot of the requested app permissions and wrote: “DO NOT download the NEW PROFILE PIC.COM APP it takes all your information and sends it to Moscow!!!!!!!”

New Profile Pic was created by a mobile development group called Informe Laboratories, Inc., and copyrighted by Linerock Investments LTD, according to the listings in Google’s and Apple’s app stores. These companies are also behind the popular apps “Photo Lab Picture Editor & Art” and “ToonMe – cartoons from photos,” two apps that collectively have millions of reviews, the vast majority of which are five stars.

On both Google’s and Apple’s app store, the developer’s location is listed as being Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

The claim that this app was connected to Russia or the Kremlin was based on screenshots that supposedly showed how the website newprofilepic.com had been registered in Moscow.

When we looked up this domain on May 11, our results showed that this website was registered in Florida. We reached out to Linerock Investments for more information, and a spokesperson told us that, previously, the domain was indeed registered in Moscow because the company’s founder had lived there. However, the spokesperson said that that person had relocated, and so the company changed the address of the domain registration “to avoid any confusion.”

This app comes from a company in the British Virgin Islands that uses an international team of developers, some of whom reside in Russia. The spokesperson said:

We are a BVI company. Our app is being developed by an international team with development offices in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

The Daily Mail reported that this app was developed by a company “overlooking the Moscow River three miles from Red Square,” insinuating a connection between this app and the Kremlin. When we asked the Linerock about this assertion raised by The Daily Mail, the spokesperson told us that the media outlet was referring to an address of lawyers who had registered the company in Moscow, not of the company itself. The spokesperson said:

The address on Moscow River is the address of lawyers who registered the company. We have never had an office there.

A blog post on Linerock’s website pho.to detailed a longer response to the rumors. The company explained that they use Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure, two servers located in the U.S., and that no user images or data are sent to Moscow:

However, there’s a flip side to the app’s popularity. The UK’s Daily Mail posted an article today alleging that NewProfilePic is likely to ‘hoover up your data and send it to Moscow’ – all because the app ‘has been developed by a tech company based in Moscow’.

Again, we can’t help remembering the lookalike ‘Bangladesh story’. All we can do is explain patiently that all our apps (including NewProfilePic) are NOT a threat. We are a BVI company with development offices in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Nevertheless, your photos (or any other data) are NOT sent to Moscow. All our apps are server-based and user images are uploaded to Amazon AWS / Microsoft Azure servers located in the US. This is necessary in order to apply all those fancy effects driven by AI technologies.

The developers website newprofilepic.com states:

The UK’s Daily Mail posted an article today alleging that NewProfilePic is likely to ‘hoover up your data and send it to Moscow’ – all because the app ‘has been developed by a tech company based in Moscow’.
(UPD) By the way, here is a detailed review by a leading fact-checking website. Spoiler: Our app is safe!

Again, we can’t help remembering the lookalike ‘Bangladesh story’. All we can do is explain patiently that all our apps (including NewProfilePic) are NOT a threat. We are a BVI company with development offices in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (check out our founder’s IG post for more info). Nevertheless, your photos (or any other data) are NOT sent to Moscow. All our apps are server-based and user images are uploaded to Amazon AWS / Microsoft Azure servers located in the US. This is necessary in order to apply all those fancy effects driven by AI technologies.

At the same time as Daily Mail adds: ‘Despite the threat posed by the App, users have praised its ease of use and quality of the avatars’ , we believe that one cloud is NOT enough to eclipse the sun.

Search google "newprofilepic russia" and you will find dozens of media titles reporting about this and various links to Russia but most of these are all part of the Reach Group that has over 130 National and Regional publication brands.