Facebook: Face recognition abolished – function controversial for years

Facebook wants to stop its facial recognition system in the future and delete corresponding data from more than a billion users. It is one of the biggest changes in the handling of facial recognition in the history of technology, wrote Jerome Pesenti, vice president for artificial intelligence at Facebook’s recently renamed parent company Meta, in a blog post. Attempts are made to weigh positive cases “against growing societal concerns” when using the system, especially since government agencies have not yet established clear rules.

Facebook is reducing functions

More than a third of the daily active Facebook users have agreed in the terms of use that their faces can be recognized by the system of the online platform. That’s around 640 million people. In previous years, the network had already scaled back the technology introduced more than ten years ago. In 2019, the function was abolished with which Facebook friends of users could be identified on uploaded photos and “marked” on an automatic suggestion. Because of the flagging option, Facebook was sued in the US state of Illinois.

Facebook’s latest move “is a fine example of trying to make product decisions that are good for users and the company,” said Kristen Martin, professor of ethics and technology at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.