Meitu App Makes Users Look Like Cute Anime Characters And Vulnerable To Data Mining

There is a new app in the market that is skyrocketing in popularity of late because it can turn any user into a cute anime character. While the benefits may seem appealing, particularly to a certain otaku-ish segment of society, the app also asks for substantial access to the users’ device and information. This puts them at risk of significant data mining practices.

Meitu has actually been around since 2008 and has proven extremely popular in China, CNET reports. It has since crossed over to the other side of the pond and almost immediate caught on thanks to a selfie-obsessed generation starved of new and exciting experiences.

On that note, the app does come with some unusual lines of code, which has been raising red flags among consumer privacy groups. Available on both iOS and Android class devices, it asks users for permission to access data that it has absolutely no business getting in contact with.

To be clear, many other apps do have a tendency to be invasive in the level of access that they ask for. With Pokemon Go, for example, it needed to maintain constant GPS awareness of the device and the users in order for the app to function. However, many of the developers that make apps like that are already well-known and trusted.

In the case of Meitu, the fact that its origin is from China is already a huge reason for suspicion. That it comes from a company that hardly anyone in the west has heard about makes it, even more, subject to caution, Wired notes.

According to a spokesperson from the company, the reason for this is because of Meitu’s partnership with Google Play, which weighs it down with things like the program called Sand Hill. The spokesperson added that a more detailed explanation is to follow.