Facial recognition software gone from Facebook, but not from Meta: reports

Facebook has said that it will stop using facial recognition technology for photo-tagging, but its new parent firm Meta has different ideas. While Meta recently announced that the platform will delete the facial templates of over a billion people and shut off its facial recognition software, the policy doesn't extend to its metaverse products.

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According to reports, a Meta spokesperson said the firm is already exploring ways to integrate biometrics into its emerging metaverse business, which aims to build an online, virtual simulation wherein people interact through avatars. Moreover, Meta is retaining the DeepFace algorithm, that powers the photo-tagging facial recognition feature.

"...This technology has the potential to enable positive use cases in the future that maintain privacy, control, and transparency, and it’s an approach we’ll continue to explore as we consider how our future computing platforms and devices can best serve people’s needs", a Meta spokesperson was quoted as saying.

DeepFace was used to power Facebook's facial recognition software that was introduced in 2010, as a way to make photo-tagging more popular. The software worked by analysing the images people posted, and then created unique facial templates, tied to their profiles. The idea behind the technology was that automatically suggesting tagging a particular person in a photo would make it easier than manually tagging them. Privacy concerns were raised immediately, and due to growing oppositing, Facebook made the use of the feature opt-in in 2019. Moreover, the tech giant was forced to pay a $650 million settlement in 2020 for a lawsuit that claimed its tagging tool violated Illinois's Biometric Information Privacy Act.

However, despite DeepFace being halted on Facebook, the collection of biometric data is a part of several projects that Meta has in the pipeline. These include hyper-realistic avatars, that require tracking facial movements in real time. Moreover, there's a new virtual reality headset in development, which will use sensors to track eye and facial movements.