Meta relaunches facial recognition with new security features for Facebook and Instagram.
Meta will launch facial recognition tools on Facebook and Instagram with the aim of combating fraud and assisting users who have lost access to their accounts.
Meta has decided to reintroduce facial recognition technology in its applications after more than three years since it disabled the Facebook "facial recognition" system amid strong opposition to this technology. The company has announced that it will begin implementing facial recognition tools on Facebook and Instagram with the aim of combating scams and assisting users who have lost access to their accounts.
The first test will focus on detecting misleading ads that use images of celebrities and public figures. According to an update from Meta, when the system suspects that an ad might be a scam and contains the image of a public figure likely to be used as bait, facial recognition technology will be used to compare the faces present in the ad with the profile pictures of that public figure on Facebook and Instagram. If a match is confirmed and the ad is indeed fraudulent, it will be blocked.
The company has already begun implementing this feature for a small group of celebrities and public figures, and in the coming weeks, it will start automatically enrolling more individuals, although users will have the option to opt out of this protection. Although Meta has systems in place to review ads for potential scams, it does not always succeed in detecting misleading ads, as many legitimate companies use celebrities to promote their products. Monika Bickert, Meta's vice president of content policy, noted that this new process is faster and more accurate than manual review.
On the other hand, Meta is exploring facial recognition tools to assist in account recovery on Facebook and Instagram. The company is testing a "video selfie" option that allows users to upload a clip of themselves for Meta to compare with their profile pictures, especially when they have been locked out of their accounts. This resource will also be used in cases of suspected account compromise, aiming to prevent hackers from accessing accounts using stolen credentials.
However, this tool will not be beneficial for all users who lose access to their accounts, as many business pages do not have a profile picture of a person, so those users will need to resort to the account recovery options already offered by Meta. Bickert commented that the new process will make it more difficult for bad actors to evade the company's support tools.
With these new features, Meta has stated that it will immediately delete any facial data used for comparisons and that scans will not be used for any other purpose. Additionally, the use of these features will be optional, though celebrities will have to opt out of protection against misleading ads.
This return to facial recognition technology could face criticism from privacy advocates, given Meta's problematic history with this technology. The company had used facial recognition to automatically tag photos but discontinued this feature in 2021 after deleting facial data from over a billion people due to "growing social concerns." Meta is also facing lawsuits in Texas and Illinois for its use of this technology, resulting in settlements of $650 million and $1.4 billion, respectively, to resolve related litigation.
It is important to note that the new tools will initially not be available in Illinois or Texas, nor will they be implemented in the UK or the European Union while the company continues negotiations with regulators in those regions. Nevertheless, Meta hopes to expand this technology globally by 2025.
