Snapchat has reserved the right to put its users’ faces on ads and personalized sponsored content with its “My Selfie” feature.
According to a report by 404 Media, if an individual uses Snapchat’s “My Selfie,” it means they also agree to let the app use their face in ads.
With the “My Selfie” feature on Snapchat, users can take selfies with the in-app Snap camera or select images from their camera roll.
After uploading a few selfies, Snapchat uses these images to understand what the user looks like. Snapchat users are then able to see themselves in “novel” AI-generated images, or even in Snaps with friends who have also opted-in.
However, 404 Media reports that Snapchat reserves the right to put My Selfie users’ faces in ads and even found an example of someone’s likeness being used in an ad targeted to them via a Reddit post.
“My Selfie is used to power Generative AI, Cameos, and other experiences on Snapchat that feature you, including ads,” a pop-up in the Snapchat app says. “My Selfie uses your images and information to do this.”
When using the feature for the first time, Snapchat also prompts the user to agree to terms that include using “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,” Snapchat writes in the terms.
How to Stop Snapchat Using Your Face in Ads
While users have to agree to Snapchat’s terms that allows it to use them or their likeness in ads by default, it is possible to stop the company from doing this. Users will need to toggle the “See My Selfie in Ads” setting to “off”
To see if the setting is enabled, users must select their profile photo in the top-left corner of Snapchat, tap the settings cog in the top-right corner, and then choose My Selfie. From here, users can toggle off the See My Selfie in Ads setting.
“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,” a Snapchat spokesperson tells 404 Media.
“As explained in the onboarding modal, Snapchatters have full control over this, and can turn this on and off in My Selfie Settings at any time.”
The company tells 404 Media that it doesn’t share users’ data with third-party advertisers, although it may use their face in personalized ads only shown to you. However, the publication says that Snapchat did not answer questions about how it could in the future serve ads featuring a user’s face without providing that data to advertisers.
Instead, the company replied that “Snap currently does not use My Selfies in advertising,” and that “the terms you cited simply reserve the right.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.