Meta Revives Facial Recognition to Combat 'Celeb Bait' Scams

Meta reintroduces facial recognition on Facebook to combat celebrity scam ads, enrolling 50,000 public figures in a trial. The service, initially shut down due to privacy issues, will exclude certain jurisdictions lacking regulatory approval. The trial may extend to aiding non-celebrity users with account recovery.

Meta has relaunched its facial recognition software on Facebook in a strategic move to tackle celebrity-based scam advertisements. The social media corporation announced that it will enroll approximately 50,000 public figures for a global trial beginning December, to compare their profile photos with images used in alleged scam ads. The initiative excludes certain regions such as Britain and parts of the United States, where regulatory approval has not been granted.

Monika Bickert, Meta's vice president of content policy, emphasized the company's objective of providing protection to these figures while allowing them the option to opt out. This effort comes amid ongoing legal challenges, such as a recent $1.4 billion settlement with Texas for alleged illegal biometric data collection, and claims that Meta is not doing enough to curb 'celeb bait' scams involving AI-generated celebrity images.

Meta assures that any facial data generated in the process will be quickly deleted. The company plans to extend similar technology to aid everyday users of Facebook and Instagram in regaining access to locked accounts. The trial has undergone extensive internal and external review processes to address privacy and regulatory concerns.

(With inputs from agencies.)