What could be more exciting than seeing yourself starring alongside your favorite actor in a movie, music video, or TV program? Yes, that's possible--well, kind of, by using a new AI-based deepfake app that has gone viral in China over this weekend, climbing to the top of the free apps list in the Chinese iOS App Store in just three days. Dubbed ZAO, the app is yet another deepfake app for iPhone that lets you superimpose your face onto actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Kit Harrington from "Game of Thrones," and many others in video clips from their popular movies and TV shows with just a selfie uploaded by you. Developed by Chinese developer MoMo, one of China's most popular dating apps, ZAO was released on Friday (August 30) and rapidly got downloaded millions of times with users being excited about the experience for the app's realistic face-swapping videos that last for as little as 8 seconds. ZAO Deepfake Face Swap App Sparks Privacy Outcry However, ZAO faced a sudden backlash from some users concerned about the potential misuse of deepfake technology.

WeChat opted on Monday to block content shared from Zao, the new deepfake app that lets users swap their faces with celebrities in movie and TV clips, amid an online backlash over possible excessive data collection. Why it matters: As data breaches become more prevalent in China, mobile internet users are becoming increasingly wary of possible privacy protection issues when using apps. Details: Zao, developed by a majority-owned unit of dating platform Momo, stormed to the top of free mobile app rankings after its August 31 release. On Monday, Tencent's WeChat blocked links shared from Zao citing security risks after many users reported the app. Context: Momo's lax protection of user privacy came under fire last December when a Weibo user spotted a package for sale on the dark web containing the phone numbers and account passwords of 30 million Momo users.