Facebook has announced to shut down its facial recognition system over increasing societal concerns about the use of such technology.
The system automatically identifies users in photos and videos.
In a blog post, Facebook’s vice president of artificial intelligence, Jerome Pesenti, said the government regulators have yet to provide a clear set of rules for use of the technology. He added that due to this ongoing uncertainty, the company believes that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate.
Though facial recognition technology is popular among retailers, hospitals and other businesses for security purposes, critics said the technology could compromise privacy, target marginalized groups and normalize intrusive surveillance.
IBM, an American multinational technology corporation, has permanently ended facial recognition product sales, while Microsoft and Amazon have suspended sales to police indefinitely.
Facebook, which last week renamed itself Meta Platforms Inc, took the decision as it has been under intense scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers over user safety and a wide range of abuses on its platforms.
Facebook said more than one-third of the company’s daily active users have opted into the face recognition setting on the social media site, and the change will now delete the “facial recognition templates” of more than 1 billion people.
A Facebook spokesperson said the removal will roll out globally and is expected to be complete by December.
Privacy advocacy and digital rights groups welcomed the move.
In 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission included the technology among the concerns when it fined Facebook $5 billion to settle privacy complaints.
A judge this year approved Facebook’s $650 million settlement of a class action in Illinois over allegations it collected and stored biometric data of users without proper consent.