Meta is reintroducing facial recognition technology, three years after halting its use due to privacy concerns.
The social media giant announced on Tuesday that it will test the technology as part of efforts to crack down on “celeb-bait” scams, where scammers misuse images of public figures in fraudulent advertisements. As part of the trial, Meta plans to enroll 50,000 celebrities and public figures. The system will automatically compare their Facebook profile photos with images used in suspected scam ads. If a match is found, Meta will block the ads and notify the celebrities.
The global rollout of this trial is set for December, but it will exclude countries like the UK, EU, South Korea, and U.S. states such as Texas and Illinois, where it hasn’t been cleared because of regulations.
