Definitely Running Scared

Facebook is definitely going into a paralyzing protective crouch right now, because they just turned off facial recognition, which is one of their most powerful tools to stalk its users for ad sales.

Someone is terrified about the consequences flowing recent revelations of Facebook's ill deeds:

Facebook said it is shutting down its facial-recognition system in the coming weeks, scrapping a feature that has developed into a key tool for sharing photos on social media but has raised concerns among privacy advocates and regulators

The move continues a dramatic reshaping of the tech giant in recent weeks, which includes pausing the development of an Instagram for children product and a rebranding of the entire company to Meta Platforms Inc. to focus on a future beyond social media.

People who have opted into facial-recognition service will no longer be automatically recognized in video and photo content, according to Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence at Meta, formerly Facebook Inc. He said the social-media platform would also delete data related to the faces of more than one billion people.

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The company has long touted the convenience facial recognition delivers for users and has pushed back against privacy advocates who find the technology invasive. Tuesday’s move also could have implications for the so-called metaverse, which is a series of virtual online communities that Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg touted last week as the future of the internet and his company.

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Facebook last year reached a $550 million settlement with the state of Illinois, which alleged the company was wrongfully using facial-recognition technology on residents without their consent. Facebook didn’t admit to wrongdoing.

The company’s use of facial-recognition was also cited by the Federal Trade Commission in its $5 billion settlement in 2019 with Facebook related to its privacy practices.

With the change, Facebook’s technology will no longer automatically recognize if someone’s face pops up in videos, photos or Facebook memories. Users also won’t see a suggested tag in videos or photos they may be featured in.

This is a big deal, because it is a substantive change in behavior, as opposed to empty insincere apologies, which is a first for the social media giant.