Facebook turns off facial recognition tool in European Union

Facebook’s introduction of facial recognition software, which it uses to encourage members to “tag” their friends in photographs, has long been controversial.This  tool in order to make tagging your photos a little bit easier by grouping similar faces together  and you can  “suggest the name of the friend” in your photos if it can find a suitable match, or, if not, pop up a window so you can name and shame them manually.Facebook was keen to encourage members to "tag" their friends in photographs because it ensures they are shared more widely, but it has been a controversial addition to the site.

After a wave of anger about potential data protection issues relating to the feature Facebook agreed to carry out a review.Facebook said Friday it had switched off the facial-recognition tool that prompts users to "tag" photographs uploaded to its website following a privacy investigation. Facebook said in a statement: "In light of discussions with our regulator in Ireland, we have agreed to suspend the Tag Suggest feature in Europe."

Category: Face Recognition, Facebook