Facebook is pulling the plug on its facial recognition system

Facebook announced it is pulling the plug on its facial recognition system and will delete the faceprints of over one billion users, as the company tries to rebound from a public relations crisis spawned by whistle-blower revelations that it knew how harmful its products are but did not take meaningful steps to fix them. "The many specific instances where facial recognition can be helpful need to be weighed against growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole," wrote Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence for Facebook's new parent company, Meta, in a blog post on Tuesday. "There are many concerns about the place of facial recognition technology in society, and regulators are still in the process of providing a clear set of rules governing its use," he added. "Amid this ongoing uncertainty, we believe that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate." For years, activists and academics have raised concerns that algorithms underpinning facial recognition programmes are racially biased and can be used to target black and brown people, fuel inequality and exacerbate social injustice.