Facebook plans to end facial recognition 0:45
(CNN Business) -
Facebook said Tuesday that it plans to stop using its facial recognition software that was capable of automatically recognizing people in photos and videos posted to the social network, marking a massive change for both the industry of technology like for a company known for collecting vast amounts of data on its billions of users.
Facebook, which changed its company name to Meta in late October, also said it plans to delete the data it had collected through the use of this software that is associated with the faces of more than a billion people.
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The move, announced in a blog post written by Vice President of Artificial Intelligence Jerome Pesenti, comes as the company is the subject of an extensive investigation into the potential damage its social platforms have produced in the real world as a result of the leak of hundreds of internal documents by a whistleblower.
Pesenti wrote that the world's largest social network will shut down its facial recognition system in the coming weeks "as part of a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in our products."
However, Facebook will continue to work on facial recognition technology and could use it in the future in its products, from social networks to a futuristic pair of glasses to take pictures.
"Looking ahead, we still see facial recognition technology as a powerful tool, for example, for people who need to verify their identity or to prevent fraud and spoofing," wrote Pesenti.
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In his post, Pesenti pointed to concerns that have arisen about the suitability of the technology, which has come under scrutiny as it is increasingly used.
In the United States, this technology is barely being regulated.
"We need to weigh the positive use cases for facial recognition against growing societal concerns, especially as regulators have yet to provide clear rules," Pesenti wrote.
Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame, called the decision "a good example of regulatory pressure," as the company's facial recognition system had long been the target of regulators.
"The volume of images that Facebook had to maintain and protect was a constant vulnerability for Facebook, both in terms of cost and trust," Martin said.
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The decision to stop using the software and delete data related to existing users from the feature marks a sea change for Facebook, which has been a major user and advocate for the technology. For years, the social network has allowed people to opt for a facial recognition setting that would automatically tag them in images and videos. Pesenti wrote that more than a third of the company's daily active users had opted for the setup, or more than 643 million people, as Facebook had 1.93 billion daily active users in the third quarter of 2021.
Facial recognition software has been rife with controversy, as concerns mount about its accuracy and underlying racial bias.
For example, technology has been shown to be less accurate in identifying people of color, and at least several black men have been unfairly detained for the use of facial recognition.
While there is no national legislation regulating the use of technology, a growing number of states and cities are passing their own rules to limit or prohibit its use.
Pesenti noted that stopping the use of facial recognition software will also mean that Facebook's auto-generated image descriptions for the visually impaired will no longer add the names of those who were recognized in the images.
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Despite the timing of Facebook's decision, Caitlin Seeley George, campaign manager for the digital rights group Fight for the Future, cautioned that it should not be dismissed as a public relations stunt.
She says the move shows that Facebook is questioning the value of technology and will affect the lives of millions of people.
The decision, he noted, comes shortly after announcements from other companies touting the technology, such as Delta Air Lines expanding the use of facial recognition software to register customers on flights.
"The fact that a company as large and influential as Facebook is coming out and acknowledging the harms of facial recognition is definitely a sign of the times," he said.
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