Facebook owner Meta restarts facial recognition tech in ‘celeb-bait’ crackdown

Facebook announced on Tuesday that it is once again experimenting with facial recognition software as a measure to combat “celeb bait” scams.

Meta recently announced its decision to resume testing facial recognition software on Facebook, three years after facing widespread criticism and regulatory pressure, which led to the initial shutdown of the technology. This move comes as part of the company’s efforts to combat fraudulent activities such as “celeb bait” scams on the platform.

Meta has announced plans to include approximately 50,000 public figures in a test where it will automatically compare their Facebook profile pictures with images featured in potentially fraudulent advertisements. In the event of a match, and if Meta determines that the ads are indeed scams, they will be promptly blocked.

The company mentioned that celebrities will receive notification about their registration and can choose to withdraw if they prefer not to take part.

The trial is scheduled for a global launch in December, but it won’t be available in certain major regions like Britain, the European Union, South Korea, and the U.S. states of Texas and Illinois due to regulatory clearance issues.

Monika Bickert, Meta’s Vice President of Content Policy, highlighted the company’s attention towards public figures targeted by misleading advertisements during a conversation with journalists.

Bickert emphasized the goal of providing maximum protection for individuals, allowing them the choice to opt out if desired while ensuring easy access to this safeguard.

The examination reveals a company’s endeavor to navigate the challenges of employing potentially intrusive technology to tackle regulatory worries regarding the increasing instances of scams, all while mitigating criticisms related to its management of user data, a longstanding issue for social media firms.

In response to mounting societal worries, Meta discontinued its facial recognition technology in 2021, erasing the facial scan records of a billion users. Recently, in August, the company was mandated to compensate Texas with $1.4 billion to resolve allegations of illicitly gathering biometric information. Simultaneously, Meta confronts legal actions alleging its inadequate efforts in preventing fraudulent schemes that exploit celebrities’ images, often produced using AI, to deceive users into funding non-existent investment programs.

In the latest experiment, the corporation announced its commitment to promptly erase all facial data derived from matching suspected ads, irrespective of scam detection. Before the trials commenced, the tool undergoing testing underwent Meta’s internal “thorough evaluation of privacy and risk” and underwent consultations with external privacy experts, regulators, and policymakers, according to Bickert.

Meta has announced its intentions to experiment with utilizing facial recognition information to help ordinary users of Facebook and Instagram, another platform owned by the company, recover access to their accounts in cases where they have been infiltrated by hackers or locked out due to forgotten passwords.