Face recognition on Facebook: you need to know that

Facebook is reintroducing facial recognition in Europe. In this practical tip, we explain what the function brings you, what data protection experts think of it and how you can deactivate the function if necessary.

How does facial recognition work on Facebook?

Facebook introduced facial recognition in 2012, but after protests it was withdrawn from the program in Europe and Canada. Facebook is now starting a second attempt.

• Face detection analyzes the individual pixels on photos and videos in which they have already been marked. This individual arrangement of pixels is saved in a file. If new pictures or videos are uploaded to Facebook, the system automatically scans the content for faces and checks whether there is a saved face.
• If you have deactivated the function, no such file will be saved. If you deactivate the function, the file will be deleted according to Facebook. Face recognition should not be used for advertising or other purposes. It is also not intended to be passed on to other Facebook companies such as WhatsApp or Instagram.

Facebook: advantages and disadvantages of facial recognition

• The biggest advantage of facial recognition is the protection of personal rights. If an image of you is publicly uploaded to Facebook, you will receive a notification immediately. Fake accounts of yourself can thus be prevented.
• If your friends upload a picture together and you are not marked manually, you will also receive a notification through face recognition. However, this is not the case if you do not have access to the picture.
• The big disadvantage of facial recognition is the loss of control over such sensitive data. In addition to your face, many other things can be analyzed in theory. If the picture shows a tennis racket or a specific location, Facebook can link this data to your profile and use this information for personalized advertising.
• Keep in mind that it is much easier to leave data on the Internet than to delete it again. Although Facebook does not want to release the data for advertising or other companies, this can change quickly in the future. By then, facial recognition may have gathered a lot of data.

Disable facial recognition on Facebook - how does it work?

• Since the end of April 2018, all users have received a notification when they visit Facebook. Here you are asked to activate or deactivate some functions. This includes facial recognition.
• If you have already completed this process, you can switch facial recognition on and off in the Facebook settings with the options "Yes" and "No".
• If you have always clicked the window away, you have to wait until it appears again. You can then activate or deactivate the function if necessary.

In the next practical tip we will tell you what the purple dove means on Facebook.