Facebook offers EU users facial recognition option in privacy menu
Facebook has unveiled a new privacy menu that it plans to present to users this week. In it, they have to make several choices and are given the option to enable facial recognition, which was not available until now.
Facebook had previously announced that it wants to make facial recognition possible in the EU and Canada, but did not give an exact time. In the current announcement, it writes that it has offered the optional feature in the rest of the world for six years, but now it is the turn of the EU and Canada. Facebook claims the feature protects privacy by warning users if someone else is using their photos. In addition, the feature can make tag suggestions for images of people. Facebook had to disable the feature, which was tacitly introduced in 2011, in the EU shortly afterwards after pressure from regulators. An American class action against Facebook over facial recognition was allowed to continue this week.
The social media company says it is making the changes under the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. In addition to the facial recognition option, users will be presented with options to customize ad preferences based on data from Facebook partners and sharing data such as political beliefs and beliefs.
The images that the company publishes shows that it uses the familiar blue buttons with ‘accept and continue’ with a gray button next to it to adjust the settings. Users must also agree to the new terms. TechCrunch describes that under the accept button there is a small gray link with ‘show my options’, where users can delete their account. There is no mention of the possibility to temporarily deactivate Facebook.
In the announcement, Facebook also writes that people outside the EU will also see these options, although this will happen later than May 25, the day on which the GDPR takes effect. It states that ‘worldwide there is no difference in the protections and control mechanisms’. At first it appeared that the company would not introduce the measures to comply with the new European privacy legislation outside the EU. The previously announced privacy tools will also appear on Facebook this week. Despite the measures, users will not be able to use the platform without some form of targeted advertising, Facebook CPO Rob Sherman said in a meeting for journalists, according to Reuters.
The company also says that minors cannot use facial recognition and that young people between the ages of 13 and 15 in certain EU countries will see a less personalized version of the site. The current announcement follows a blog post about collecting data from users who are not logged into Facebook. This is done through like buttons, Facebook Login, analytics and advertisements.