If you’re a Snapchat user, you might want to be aware of this. The company has reserved the right to put users faces on ads and sponsored content.
The mechanism behind this claim to your face as a Snapchat user is a “feature” known as “My Selfie” (formerly known as “AI Selfie”.)
As recent reporting by the website 404 Media covered, a Snapchat user who activates and uses My Selfie is by default also agreeing (within the permissions legalese of the feature) to let the Snapchat app use their face in assorted ad content.
As usual, something like this, which many users would probably avoid agreeing to, was hidden behind a fog of complex permissions.
If you want to use My Selfie, you automatically agree to these when you accept the general terms of service that come with accessing My Selfie.
Among these permissions is one that gives Snapchat the right to put the captured faces of the tool’s users into ads and sponsored visual content.
It’s a classic case of you really being the product while you’re busy thinking you’re a user of the app. It’s also extremely common among tech companies to do this with their terms of service.
404 Media even found an example on Reddit of a Snapchat user who had played with My Selfie only to later see their own face on an ad that had been targeted at them.
So why would any user want to use My Selfie in the first place? Simply because it’s presented as a fun visual novelty but with an AI twist.
The tool lets you take selfies of yourself and after submitting a few of them for analysis by Snapchat’s AI generating tool, you can use the tool to recreate how you look in interesting new photorealistic ways.
Behind the scenes, and very intentionally, Snapchat is busy monetizing that data in its own ways, which you tacitly agree to when you accept the My Selfie terms of service.
These almost inevitably include what many would consider very uncomfortable uses of your personal information, and in this particular case, your very face.
Snapchat’s own blurb about My Selfie blandly states, “My Selfie is used to power Generative AI, Cameos, and other experiences on Snapchat that feature you, including ads,”
Another minor blurb by Snapchat then modestly adds, “My Selfie uses your images and information to do this.”
The permissions prompt that appears to first-time users of the selfie tool in Snapchat specifically states that by accepting, you’re agreeing to having the tool use you or your likeness in ads:
“You also acknowledge and agree that by using My Selfie, you (or your likeness) may also appear in personalized sponsored content and ads that will be visible only to you and that includes branding or other advertising content of Snap or its business partners without compensation to you.”
Note that this is mentioned well inside a 1,741-word document that spans multiple pages of dense text.
To Snapchat’s credit, the app claims that user photos are only used in content shown to those users specifically.
However, the entire concept behind how this is done represents a general trend in user data mining that should worry people. This is especially the case for visuals of something so personal as a face.
It’s not hard to imagine a likeness going from being used in ads only meant for that user, to an AI-modified (but still recognizable) version of that likeness later appearing in more widely shown content.
Users have to accept Snapchat’s terms if they want to use “My Selfie” and these by default involve collection and storage of the selfie photos you give it.
However, if you’re a Snapchat user, you can at least stop the app from showing you ads with your face in them.
To do this, you need to toggle to the “See My Selfie in Ads” setting and turn it to off.
You can reach this by selecting your profile photo in in the top left corner of Snapchat, tap the settings cog in the top right corner of it and then picking “My Selfie”. This is where the selfie tool’s settings are.
404 Media reached out to Snapchat and a company representative explained to the website that,
“You are correct that our terms do reserve the right, in the future, to offer advertising based on My Selfies in which a Snapchatter can see themselves in a generated image delivered to them,”
However, the spokesperson adds, “Snapchatters have full control over this, and can turn this on and off in My Selfie Settings at any time.”
Crucially, Snapchat also told 404 Media that it doesn’t share user data with third-party advertisers. This seems to contradict its own terms and permissions clause for My Selfie’s use of a likeness since it “includes branding or other advertising content of Snap or its business partners”
It’s a bit difficult to see how Snapchat could integrate a user’s face with ads for third-party entities without sharing that face with them.
The company in any case stated to 404 Media that it won’t answer questions about future users of user faces in advertising. It did however assert that its terms and conditions as cited by 404 Media “reserve the right” to broader ad uses.
If you’re uncomfortable with all of this, you might just want to avoid “fun, quirky” AI tools that request your selfie, other photos, or other personal information.
Often, the quirky part is only the first layer of a much more invasive bargain.
