Facebook ends facial recognition over privacy fears

Facebook's facial recognition system automatically identified people who appeared in users' digital photos

Facebook's facial recognition system automatically identified people who appeared in users' digital photos

Scandal-hit Facebook is shutting down its long-criticized facial recognition system and deleting scan data on a billion people, it said Tuesday, in a shock response to privacy concerns.

The announcement came as the tech giant battles one of its worst crises ever, with reams of internal documents leaked to reporters, lawmakers and US regulators fuelling fresh calls for government regulation.

"This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology's history," wrote Jerome Pesenti, the vice president of artificial intelligence at Facebook's parent company Meta.

Pesenti did not directly explain why the change was announced at a moment when the company was deluged with reports based on leaked documents that argued executives know the platform could cause harm.

Privacy advocates welcomed the news, but some were concerned it was an effort to score points amid recent public relations disasters.

- Privacy concerns -

The social network agreed in 2020 to a $650 million payout after failing to win dismissal of a case alleging it illegally collected biometric information for "face tagging" in violation of a 2008 Illinois privacy law.

Several US cities including San Francisco have passed bans on the use of facial recognition technology. There are concerns about creating large databases with errors in identifying some individuals.

"Facial recognition is one of the most dangerous and politically toxic technologies ever created. Even Facebook knows that," said Caitlin Seeley George, campaign director at digital advocacy group Fight for the Future.

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp -- which are used by billions around the world -- will keep their names under the rebranding that critics have called an effort to distract from the platform's dysfunction.

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