Janice R. Andrews
Meta has announced the reintroduction of facial recognition technology to Facebook and Instagram, marking a significant shift from their 2021 decision to discontinue the technology. Here’s what’s new:
Key Features:
Anti-Scam Protection
- Automatically detects fraudulent ads using celebrities’ likenesses
- Compares faces in ads with official profile pictures
- Initially rolling out to select public figures, with automatic enrollment planned
- Users can opt out if desired
Account Recovery Enhancement
- New “video selfie” verification system
- Users can verify identity by comparing video with profile pictures
- Particularly useful for compromised accounts
- May not work for business pages without personal profile photos
Privacy and Restrictions:
- Meta promises to delete facial data immediately after comparison
- Technology limited to scam detection and account recovery
- Not available in Illinois or Texas due to past legal settlements
- Excluded from UK and EU pending regulatory discussions
- Global expansion planned for 2025
The move represents Meta’s attempt to balance security features with privacy concerns. While the previous facial recognition system (used for photo tagging) was discontinued in 2021 following privacy concerns, these new tools focus specifically on user protection and account security. The company emphasizes that the features will be optional for most users, though celebrities will need to actively opt out of the scam protection system.
According to Meta’s VP of content policy, Monika Bickert, the new system offers faster and more accurate results than traditional manual review methods, particularly for detecting fraudulent celebrity endorsements.
