In response to the increasing societal concerns, Facebook’s parent company Meta has announced that they are removing the controversial facial recognition tool from Facebook and all user face data that has been gathered through the social media network.
However, the company hasn’t made it clear, which worries privacy campaigners if the AI algorithms that were trained were able to remove that data.
Why is Facebook Removing Face Recognition?
Since 2010, Facebook users have had the ability to “tag” people in their posted photos by using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to scan the images.
When the functionality appeared, Meta, then known as Facebook itself, faced criticism for not seeking users’ consent and has since battled to synchronize it with regional privacy rules.
Big Brother Watch campaigner Jake Hurfurt says the measure should be carefully recognized. He said that no corporation should hoard an amount of biometric data. Clear regulations are still required to limit the application of this intrusive technology.
This is also to stop unaccountable corporations from collecting the private biometric information of millions of people. As per Meta, despite the controversies, face recognition has a future whether it is used to confirm a user’s identity or stop fraud or impersonation.