Barbie-themed photo filters have been branded a potential security risk by the Polish Ministry of Digitisation over fears that dodgy terms of use could enable companies to access confidential user data, including GPS location and payment details, and even grant outsiders access to an individual’s phone camera.
While the online world is still beset by Barbie fever to coincide with the launch of the highly anticipated film starring Margot Robbie in the lead role, Polish officials have blown the whistle on multiple phone apps marketed under the Barbie brand, which could jeopardise consumer and national security due to their sloppy data management terms and conditions.
The ministry specifically identified two apps, ‘barbieselfie.ai’ and ‘bairbie.me,’ registered in Anguilla and Montenegro, respectively, which it said contravened EU GDPR rules around the management of user data. Both apps allow users to convert selfies into characters from the Barbie universe and are currently available from the Apple Store.
Under GDPR law, apps operating within the European market cannot track user location or gather identifying data about a user’s identity without specific consent.
“Beware of selfies with Barbie,” warned the official Polish communique as it asserted that “seemingly innocent fun is actually an operation of mass collection of Internet users’ data.”
This is not the first time that an innocuous child-focused app has triggered stern high-level security warnings. The U.S. intelligence establishment and increasingly their European counterparts have long sounded the alarm against the common use of TikTok as a major risk for Chinese espionage.
Poland is ramping up its domestic security following the invasion of Ukraine as the country deals with weaponised migration on its eastern frontier by Belarus’ Lukashenko regime.
Warsaw is also gearing up for elections later this year, which will see an attempt by the EU establishment and the liberal opposition to oust the ruling conservative PiS administration. The use of voter data by political parties has been a contentious issue in determining many recent elections since the advent of the smartphone and social media.
Elsewhere, so-called ‘Barbiemania’ has gripped the online world and even impacted political discussion, becoming a disputed topic in the culture war between Right and Left.
