The app uses facial recognition technology from a firm backed by Alibaba Group Holding to match faces with photo identification and cross-check pictures on different documents

The app also takes a host of other data points -- from electricity and smartphone use to personal relationships to political and religious affiliations -- to flag suspicious behavior, the report said.

IJOP is mainly a tool for data collection, filing reports and prompting “investigative missions” by police. The report called for China to shut down the database behind the app, and for foreign governments to impose targeted sanctions such as visa bans and asset freezes against leaders in Xinjiang.

Human Rights Watch said the mobile app was developed by a unit of state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corp, a Fortune 500 company known as CETC with $30 billion in revenue and 169,000 employees. The group has expanded its various operations abroad, from developing smart city solutions in Tehran to a cooperation agreement with German engineering group Siemens.

The app uses facial recognition technology developed by Beijing-based Megvii under the brand Face++. The company, which sells licenses to use Face++ facial recognition in mobile apps, was considering an initial public offering to raise as much as $1 billion in Hong Kong, Bloomberg News reported in January