Consumer Protection Agency Fines Google and Apple for ‘Face-Aging’ app

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The Consumer Protection Agency ‘PROCON Foundation’ of São Paulo has imposed a fine on Google and Apple because of the ‘face-aging’ application FaceApp that became a fever on the Brazilian internet in July.

According to PROCON, the companies infringed the Consumer Defense Code (CDC) by making available in their mobile stores an app that does not have “Privacy Policy” and “Terms of Use” in Portuguese.

The app, of Russian origin, has contracts written only in English.

According to Procon, adequate information that is clear and in the Portuguese language is a basic right of consumers. Google received the heaviest fine: R$9.9 million (US$2.5 million), the maximum value set by the CDC. The penalty for Apple was R$7.7 million. The differences in values, according to the foundation, reflect the differences in revenue of the companies in the country.

As newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo showed, if the contracts were in Portuguese, users would know that FaceApp delivers data to advertisers in addition to giving the right to transfer the data to countries that do not have the same data protection laws as Brazil.

Fernando Capez, executive director of the PROCON, said that he notified Wireless Lab, the company that owns FaceApp, by e-mail, but had no response. Wireless Lab has no official representation in Brazil.

“FaceApp is out of reach of Brazilian courts, out of reach of the enforcement agencies. It is practically a ghost company. That’s why Google and Apple suffered this action,” said Capez.

In July, PROCON notified Google and Apple about the violations by FaceApp. The expectation was, upon becoming aware of the violations, the giants would remove the app from their stores, Google Play and the App Store, but this did not happen.

According to the companies, they comply with local legislation: the terms of use and privacy policy of their stores and even the description of apps offered by third parties is in Portuguese.

The companies further claim that the virtual stores are a platform for the user’s access to products offered in most cases by independent developers. Google and Apple, therefore, have no responsibility for contracts made between users and third parties. Those responsible for violations of the CDC would be the developers themselves.

The explanation did not please PROCON, who thinks that the media giants are responsible for apps that have no local representation.

“This action sets a precedent and an international discussion. When you become aware of an abusive offer, the right thing to do is remove the app,” says Capez.

The two companies will be able to appeal the decision in two administrative instances of PROCON, in addition to being able to appeal in court. If they choose to pay, they will get a 30% discount if payment is made without contesting the charge.