Meta is shutting down Facebook鈥檚 controversial face recognition feature and deleting the face data collected from users through the social media network, citing 鈥済rowing societal concerns鈥�. But privacy campaigners are concerned that the company hasn鈥檛 been clear on whether the algorithms trained on that data will be deleted.
Images uploaded to Facebook have been scanned by artificial intelligence (AI) tools since 2010, giving the uploader the option of 鈥渢agging鈥� people in the image. Meta, then known as Facebook itself, attracted criticism when the feature first launched for failing to ask permission from users, and has since struggled to align it with local privacy laws.
In 2012, the company switched off face recognition for people in the EU after a German data protection commissioner said that it 鈥� it returned in 2018 with an explicit opt-in requirement. The firm also settled听a class-action lawsuit last year in Illinois that claimed the feature violated state law, .
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Meta has now announced that it will shut down the system globally and delete the 鈥渇aceprint鈥� data collected from Facebook users, the digital representation of their faces. The company says that more than a third of Facebook鈥檚 2.8 billion users had opted-in to face recognition.
鈥淔rom a PR point of view, it seems positive,鈥� says at campaign group European Digital Rights, 鈥渂ut when you actually look under the hood it鈥檚 not doing anything to tackle the systemic issues.鈥�
Although Meta says it will delete the faceprints of Facebook users, Jakubowska says there is no mention of deleting the AI algorithms that have been trained on the data, and which have the actual power to recognise people in images.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e had this database for over 10 years and they might now be thinking that they鈥檝e got what they needed out of it, to train the algorithms鈥� and actually, they can get rid of the database,鈥� she says.
Jerome Presenti, vice-president for artificial intelligence at Meta said in a : 鈥淭he many specific instances where facial recognition can be helpful need to be weighed against growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole.鈥� Meta referred New 杏吧原创听to the blog post when asked to comment further.
at campaign group Big Brother Watch says the move should be cautiously welcomed. 鈥淣o company should hoard that amount of biometric data,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here is still a need for clear rules to restrict the use of this intrusive technology and prevent the collection of millions of people鈥檚 private, biometric data by unaccountable corporations.鈥�
at the University of Essex, UK, says Meta鈥檚 move may have been driven by the fact that opt-outs are less compatible with recent data privacy legislation, such as the EU鈥檚 General Data Protection Regulation, and are increasingly less tolerated by the general public.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e building it into everyday products, then it鈥檚 hard to see where informed consent is coming in, or how legitimate reasons for the processing would take priority over privacy concerns,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think there may be recognition that if you鈥檙e using facial recognition at borders, or to protect from terrorism, that鈥檚 more justifiable than if you鈥檙e just doing it so you can target ads.鈥�
Meta still sees a future for face recognition, either to verify users鈥� identity or to prevent fraud or impersonation, and says it will keep working on developing those new technologies. The company says that on-device face recognition, which doesn鈥檛 share data with external computer servers, is one possible way forward.
