One founder leaves and the replacement has a different mandate and/or worldview. Happens all the time. You should assume any app requiring contacts and access to photos is exfiltrating them.
Google is more than welcome to add a disclaimer such as "no claims in the app description have been verified and may change at any time" to all apps - I'd even welcome it. But don't make us lie to our users! (I'm not affiliated with the posting company, but I've had a similar issue in an app with location permissions for use on a simple map)