Meta Tries of Face Recognition Technology to Verify Instagram and Facebook Users

Face Recognition (photo: Meta) technology trial Meta

JAKARTA - Meta announced that it is testing the use of facial recognition technology to help, and protect users from impersonation and advertising fraud impersonating famous celebrities.

According to Meta, cybercriminals often use the face of a famous figure to lure people into clicking on ads that lead to fraudulent websites, which ask victims to share personal information or send money.

With this new effort, if Meta suspects that an ad involving a famous figure is a scam, the tech giant said it will try to use facial recognition technology to compare the face in the ad with the public figure's Facebook and Instagram profile photos.

"If we confirm a match and determine that the ad is fraudulent, we will block it. We immediately delete all facial data generated from the ad," Meta wrote in its latest announcement quoted Tuesday, October 22.

Currently, the trial has only been carried out on a small number of famous figures. However, in the coming weeks, Meta will begin displaying in-app notifications to a large group of public figures who have been affected by ad fraud, to let them know that Meta has registered them for this protection.

Furthermore, this facial recognition technology will also allow Facebook and Instagram users who lose access to their accounts to be able to restore them very easily and quickly.

So, if Meta suspects someone's account has been hacked, Meta will require the account holder to verify their identity before regaining access by uploading a government-issued ID that includes their name.

Meta is also testing video selfies as a way for people to verify their identity and regain access to hacked accounts.

"People will upload a video selfie and we'll use facial recognition technology to compare that selfie to the profile picture on the account they're trying to access," said the company owned by Mark Zuckerberg.