Meta, the newly named parent company of Facebook, announced that it was shutting down its use of a facial recognition system on its social media platform.
The announcement comes after mounting pressure from advocacy groups concerned about privacy issues, allegations of racial bias in algorithms, and additional concerns related to how artificial intelligence technology identifies people’s faces in pictures. It also notably comes amid renewed scrutiny of the tech giant from lawmakers and the company’s whistleblower, Frances Haugen.
What is Facebook’s facial recognition and how does it work?
Facebook’s facial recognition was a technology Facebook offered to users so that they could find photos and videos of themselves on the platform and if they wanted to, tag themselves in the photo or video. It was also used by users on Facebook to identify if someone was impersonating them on the platform and was used to help make the platform more accessible for people with visual impairments by telling them who was in the photo.
Why is Facebook removing its facial recognition?
There are many privacy concerns around Facebook’s facial recognition, regarding the extent to which it should be used and the security issues it brings with it. Many people also don’t like the idea of Facebook scanning their faces and regulators seem to agree with them.
Meta’s (Facebook’s newly formed parent company) vice-president of artificial intelligence, Jerome Pesenti, recently said “Amid this ongoing uncertainty, we believe that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate,”.
All of this came after the release of tens of thousands of internal documents from Facebook by whistleblower Frances Haugen. With Facebook facing widespread criticism over its attitude towards user privacy and safety, many believe that this is more of a public relations stunt than it is a demonstration of actual concern for user privacy. Facebook has previously said that the only person who could access the faceprint was the account user, and a spokesperson confirmed there had been no other access to the faceprint information.
What was the issue with Asian and African faces?
A study by the US government from 2019, found that facial recognition algorithms were notably less accurate at identifying African-American and Asian faces compared to Caucasian faces. African-American women were even more likely to be misidentified, according to the study conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST) has tested the accuracy of facial recognition technology from many suppliers and found alarming inaccuracies. 189 algorithms from 99 developers were tested, including Microsoft, Intel, Toshiba, and Chinese firms Tencent and DiDi Chuxing.
Patrick Grother, a Nist computer scientist and the report’s primary author said that “while it is usually incorrect to make statements across algorithms, we found empirical evidence for the existence of demographic differentials in the majority of the face recognition algorithms we studied,”
“While we do not explore what might cause these differentials, this data will be valuable to policymakers, developers, and end-users in thinking about the limitations and appropriate use of these algorithms.”
Facial recognition technology has been banned in several US cities, including San Francisco and Oakland in California and Somerville, Massachusetts.
What will happen to your data?
According to Facebook, your faceprint will be deleted. Facebook has said the faceprint would not be retained and this is whether you have opted out of the service, never opted in, or deleted your account. A lot of people are also concerned that there may have been a privacy breach, however, Facebook has previously said that the only person who can access the information is the user and a spokesperson confirmed that there had been no breach to the faceprint information.
Which functions are going to be affected?
Some functions will be affected such as that the platform will no longer automatically recognize people’s faces if they appear in photos or videos, and it will no longer be able to be turned on for suggestions on whom to tag in photos. Facebook is also intending to delete the template that’s used to identify users who have employed the setting on their account. However, they will still let you tag the people you want on photos but the difference is that you will have to do it manually on your mobile phone or laptop.
According to Jerome Pesenti, the change will also affect the automatic alt text feature, which creates image descriptions for blind and visually impaired people. Saying that the descriptions will no longer include the names of people recognized in photos but will otherwise function normally.
