Facebook will delete the faceprints of more than a billion people after announcing it is shutting down its face recognition system due to numerous concerns about the use of the technology.
Faceprints are a digitally recorded representation of a person's face that can be used for security purposes because it is as individual as a fingerprint.
The social networking site has been under political, legal and regulatory pressure to use the software, which automatically identifies users in photos and videos and notifies them if another user has posted a photo or video with them, if they have chosen the option. In a statement, Facebook parent company Meta said it would shut down the platform's face recognition system in the coming weeks and delete 1 billion face recognition templates.
Meta Vice President for Artificial Intelligence Jerome Pesenti said the technology has helped visually impaired users identify their friends in images and can help prevent fraud and imitation. But Pesenti said the advantages should be weighed against "growing concerns about using the technology as a whole."
Pesenti added that Facebook will encourage users to tag posts manually.
In 2020, Facebook's parent company paid $ 650 million to settle a lawsuit filed by users who claimed the company had created and maintained their unauthorized facial scans.
Pesenti said that if the company intends to use facial recognition technology in the future, it will determine "how people can have control over these systems and their personal data".
Sources: Guardian, Electronic Frontier Foundation
