Tagged or not, you will now know when your image is used on Facebook
Facebook will notify users when their photos are uploaded to the social network, even when they’re not tagged.
The company is expanding its use of facial-recognition technology, saying it’s a way for users to have more control over their photo likeness on the platform.
Facebook users will receive notifications only when they’re part of the intended audience for a post, such as when their friends upload photos but don’t tag everyone in them.
But the company knows when people might be up to no good, so it will also let you know if your photo is used as someone else’s
profile photo.
“We’re doing this to prevent people from impersonating others on Facebook,” said Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, director of applied machine learning at Facebook, in a blog post Tuesday.
The company also touted the new feature, Photo Review, as a way to help the visually impaired.
“With face recognition, people who use screen readers will know who appears in photos in their News Feed even if people aren’t tagged,” Candela said.
Photo Review is rolling out everywhere but Europe and Canada, where privacy restrictions have complicated the issue for the company.
If you’re in the United States and are concerned
about Facebook’s growing use of facial recognition, the company is adding a way for you to opt out.
Soon, Facebook users will see an on/off switch and be able to opt in or out of having their faces recognized by the company’s technology. But if you opt out, that means Facebook won’t automatically suggest tags for photos with you in them, and you won’t be notified when someone else uses your photo as their profile picture.
At least one privacy advocate criticized this approach.
“Facebook tried to simplify the option to make an on-off feature but doesn’t allow users to choose what features they may want to use,” Jeramie Scott, national security counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told the Washington Post.
In a separate blog post, Rob Sherman, Facebook’s deputy chief privacy officer, defended the “all or nothing” move.
“We believe this will prevent people from having to make additional decisions among potentially confusing options,” he said.
He also addressed what he says is a common concern about the technology, which the company will begin explaining to users on their news feeds.
“We aren’t introducing, and have no plans to introduce, features that tell strangers who you are,” Sherman said.