Meta has said it’s going to utilize facial recognition technology in a bid to crack down on celebrity scam ads that plague its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

The move comes three years after Meta removed facial recognition smarts from Facebook following a backlash against the technology. Meta will be hoping that the implementation of the system, and the reason for bringing it in, will be better received by its online communities this time around.

“Scammers often try to use images of public figures, such as content creators or celebrities, to bait people into engaging with ads that lead to scam websites, where they are asked to share personal information or send money,” Meta explained in a post announcing the move to reintroduce facial recognition technology.

Meta already has a system in place for detecting scam ads involving celebrities, but it’s now aiming to make it more robust. Moving forward, if it suspects an ad to be a potential scam and it contains the image of a public figure at risk of being celeb bait, it will deploy facial recognition technology to compare faces in the ad to the public figure’s Facebook and Instagram profile pictures. If it confirms a match and concludes that the ad is a scam, Meta will block it.

In a bid to steer clear of the same kind of criticisms that prompted Meta to ditch a form of facial recognition technology three years ago that involved automatic photo-tagging of Facebook users, the company said it will delete any facial data generated from ads for the one-time comparison, regardless of whether its system finds a match, adding that it won’t use the data for any other purpose.

The company said that early testing with a small group of celebrities and public figures shows promising results. Next, it will enroll a wider pool of celebrities that have been used in celeb-bait scams. Those selected will be notified, and they can opt out of the system at any time.

Regaining access to accounts
Meta said it’s also testing facial recognition technology as a way for people to verify their identity and regain access to Facebook and Instagram accounts if they forget their password, lose their device, or are tricked into giving their password to a scammer.

At the current time, owners of compromised accounts need to verify their identity to regain access by uploading an official ID or an official certificate that shows their name.

But Meta said it’s now testing “video selfies” as a way for people to verify their identity and regain access to their account.

“The user will upload a video selfie and we’ll use facial recognition technology to compare the selfie to the profile pictures on the account they’re trying to access,” the company explained, adding that the system is “similar to identity verification tools you might already use to unlock your phone or access other apps.”

Uploaded video selfies will be encrypted and stored securely and will never appear on any Meta platform. The video will also be deleted immediately by Meta once it’s been used to verify a user’s identity.

“Video selfie verification expands on the options for people to regain account access, only takes a minute to complete and is the easiest way for people to verify their identity,” Meta said. “While we know hackers will keep trying to exploit account recovery tools, this verification method will ultimately be harder for hackers to abuse than traditional document-based identity verification.”