People probably don't even realize that stuff moves to a server at all. People may think this is all happening and contained within their local app and therefore private and in their control. They probably also assume snapchats go from their phone to the recipient directly and aren't held anywhere in between.

This is I think the most scary possibility. If you think faceapp is processing this in the app with your phone's hardware, learning that they save all pictures sounds like a vast conspiracy and not so believable.

However, if you understand the technology and that most things online are not processed client side, the privacy implications are suddenly obvious because of course the company will keep that data that passes through their hardware. No shareholder will let money be left on the table so all data you put online should be assumed to be kept for later profit.

People have to be better educated on how the software they use every day actually works, at least in broad strokes. This can come in a high school media/technology literacy class or something.

Until that day comes, we have two classes of people: those who understand how the tech they use works and makes a company money, and those who will be forever manipulated by the first group so long as they have a dollar or a right to vote. It's a hard problem to overcome when so many technology companies are entirely dependent on profit from people's continued ignorance and tech illiteracy.