Now Facebook wants to spy on us through our cameras

FACEBOOK already knows far too much about your life. And now it wants to know an awful lot more.

The social media giant has quietly filed a patent that would let it monitor our faces via smartphone and laptop cameras.

It wants to analyse facial expressions to see whether, for example, a picture of an ex makes us happy, sad or indifferent – and cash in accordingly.

If Facebook identified that you needed cheering up, it might target you with advertisements for chocolate or alcohol – whatever it thinks will do the trick.

CB Insights, the research firm that spotted the patent, said: ‘Facebook proposes using “passive imaging data”, or visual data captured automatically through a laptop or phone’s front-facing camera.

‘The user often faces this camera without thinking about it, while using the phone or laptop normally, and Facebook hopes to start leveraging this imaging data.’ But while this sounds technologically clever, it would also be horrendously intrusive. Privacy campaigners are already aghast after Facebook executives in Australia told advertisers that they could identify when teenagers feel ‘worthless’.

This innovation would allow Facebook to track emotional vulnerability even more precisely. However the firm said it could also use people’s reactions to decide which posts were relevant to them.

If it could see that you looked away from a kitten video, it could stop such clips appearing on your screen.

Facebook has refused to say if it will apply the technology, patented in February last year, but it would need to change its terms and conditions before rolling it out.

Other Facebook patents would allow users to do away with smiley-face ‘emojis’ and send much more nuanced images based on their own faces.