CALIFORNIA, USA - Facebook announced that it has new tools to help people better manage their identity with facial recognition.
Powered by the same technology Facebook used to suggest friends you may want to tag in photos or videos, these new features help you find photos that you’re not tagged in. This will help you detect when others might be attempting to use your image as their profile picture.
The user will then have the option to add their tag to the photo, leave themselves untagged, or report the photo if they think it’s inappropriate. The feature will also work with profile photos, but won’t be available in Canada or the EU, where data laws restrict the use of facial recognition. According to Facebook, the new tool is designed to empower users by helping them control their image online. "We’re doing this to prevent people from impersonating others on Facebook", says Facebook.
Through feedback given by users to Facebbook, Users said that they would find it easier to manage face recognition through a simple setting, so the company will pair these tools with a “on/off” control.
If your tag suggestions setting is currently set to “none,” then your default face recognition setting will be set to “off” and will remain that way until you decide to change it. The new tool will also be used to improve Facebook’s automatic text descriptions telling visually impaired users not just what is in a picture, but also who is featured in the picture.
Users will be prompted in their News Feed to review their current privacy settings and make a choice about the feature.