Facebook to Remove Facial Recognition Service... "Victory of Regulatory Pressure"

A Facebook employee is demonstrating facial recognition technology through a remote meeting. (Photo by AP)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Facebook, the world's largest social media platform, has decided to discontinue its facial recognition system amid ongoing concerns from U.S. regulators and privacy controversies.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others on the 2nd (local time), Facebook announced plans to delete the facial scan data (templates) of over 1 billion Facebook users within weeks and to halt its facial recognition service. More than one-third of Facebook users, approximately 640 million people, have used this feature.

Meta, Facebook's parent company, explained, "There have been many concerns regarding the social standing of facial recognition technology, and amid regulatory uncertainties, we determined it appropriate to limit the service." They added, "This change will help us focus on building metaverse technology, the next stage of the internet, which is a three-dimensional virtual world fused with the real world."

Foreign media have evaluated this move as effectively eliminating a feature that has caused side effects such as privacy concerns, investigations by government regulators, and class-action lawsuits.

Woodrow Hazog, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University, said, "This decision demonstrates the ongoing need for criticism of big tech companies' privacy policies and is a victory for regulatory pressure. It proves that such technology is neither inevitable nor indispensable."

Facebook first introduced facial recognition in 2010 and accelerated related technology development and services by acquiring Israeli facial recognition software developer Face.com for less than $100 million in 2012.

However, it has consistently faced criticism due to accuracy issues and concerns about racial bias, leading to side effects such as judicial harm where Black men were wrongfully arrested due to errors in facial recognition technology.

Ultimately, Facebook took measures in 2017 by making facial recognition an optional feature, but it also paid $650 million in a U.S. class-action settlement over allegations of unauthorized data collection.

Meanwhile, this decision comes as Facebook faces its biggest crisis since its founding due to internal whistleblowing and ongoing investigations by the U.S. Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen exposed internal documents known as the "Facebook Files" revealing unfair business practices to the U.S. Congress and SEC, and Facebook is under FTC investigation for violating privacy agreements.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.