Meta brings back face scanning to combat scams and account hacking

Facebook and Instagram are investigating caller facial designation tools that could assistance users rapidly reconstruct compromised accounts and combat fake celebrity-endorsed scams. Meta announced its plan to rotation retired experimental features that tin scan a user’s look to verify their individuality by comparing it against illustration pictures connected Facebook and Instagram.

The archetypal usage of these tools purpose to support some celebrities and mundane radical from alleged “celeb-bait” ads that impersonate notable figures to instrumentality users into visiting scam websites. Meta presently uses automated exertion similar instrumentality learning to observe contented that violates its policies but says celeb-bait tin beryllium hard to separate from morganatic ads.

“If our systems fishy that an advertisement whitethorn beryllium a scam that contains the representation of a nationalist fig astatine hazard for celeb-bait, we volition effort to usage facial designation exertion to comparison faces successful the advertisement to the nationalist figure’s Facebook and Instagram illustration pictures,” Meta said successful its announcement. “If we corroborate a lucifer and find the advertisement is simply a scam, we’ll artifact it.”

Celebrities volition request a Facebook oregon Instagram illustration to usage the caller facial designation tools, but they’ve shown “promising results” for detection velocity and efficacy successful aboriginal investigating with a tiny radical of nationalist figures, according to Meta. More celebrities who person been impacted by celeb-bait contented volition beryllium automatically enrolled successful the coming weeks, and volition person the enactment to opt-out if they choose. 

Meta’s facial designation tools volition besides yet let Facebook and Instagram users to regain entree to their locked accounts by submitting a video selfie, akin to authentication systems similar Apple’s Face ID. It’s not wide erstwhile this diagnostic volition beryllium available, but Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of planetary affairs, says it’s “starting small” and plans to “roll retired these protections much wide successful the months ahead.”

Meta says that uploaded selfie videos volition beryllium encrypted and “stored securely.” The institution besides says that facial information utilized for comparisons is instantly deleted and isn’t utilized for “any different purpose” — though it’s worthy noting that Meta trains its AI models connected astir everything that’s publically posted to its platforms.

Meta antecedently integrated facial designation tech into Facebook to place and tag users successful photographs and videos. That diagnostic was discontinued successful 2021 aft a lengthy privateness battle. The institution present says its caller tools person been vetted for information and privacy, and are being discussed with regulators and policymakers.