FaceApp creator apologizes for ‘ethnicity change filters’ after backlash

The controversial face-changing mobile application FaceApp, which enables users to edit their selfies in interesting ways, has recently apologized for a feature that it has since removed.

A new update added “ethnicity change filters” enabled users to see what they would look like if they were Caucasian, Black, Asian or Indian. Mic first reported the feature—and pointed out its cultural insensitivity.

Originally, FaceApp’s chief executive and creator, Yaroslav Goncharov, seemingly didn’t think there was anything wrong with the new feature. He told Mic and other news outlets:

The ethnicity change filters have been designed to be equal in all aspects. They don’t have any positive or negative connotations associated with them. They are even represented by the same icon. In addition to that, the list of those filters is shuffled for every photo, so each user sees them in a different order.

Goncharov changed his mind roughly five hours after Mic’s piece was published. He followed up with a message that read, “The new controversial filters will be removed in the next few hours.”