alt Hacker NewsFacebook shut down their facial recognition program in 2021 and deleted the data in response to public frustrations.
It’s really sad now to see people getting angry at Facebook not having facial recognition technology.
Replies
Beestie • today at 2:52 AM
I can't help but notice the exact wording of FB's response - or rather what they didn't say.
If someone asks me to do them a favor, I have basically three options for a reply:
• I can and I will;
• I can but I won't; or
• I am not able to.
FB's answer was not option 3.
I think a more plausible explanation is that FB did not want to set a precedent of being the facial recog avenue of choice for the Fed.
The two views aren't necessarily in conflict. I don't appreciate Facebook's use of facial recognition technology, but they built it. I'm extremely disappointed they proceeded to use this technology to influence elections while fighting against making the data available to law enforcement. I understand this may not have been intentional on their part, but the result is the same, and I was not at all surprised by it.