Meta Tests to Implement Facial Recognition Technology

Meta Conducts Tests to Implement Facial Recognition Technology

Meta, the company behind social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, announced that due to the increase in cyber scams since the beginning of the pandemic, it is conducting tests to implement facial recognition technology that will identify fraudulent celebrity posts.

“We use machine learning classifiers to review what is shared, looking for violations of our advertising policies, including scams,” said Monika Bickert, Meta’s vice president of content policy.

Celeb-bait scams begin when scammers from different parts of the world manipulate images and videos of celebrities to encourage their “followers” to visit fraudulent websites, where they are tricked into sharing confidential information, such as passwords or banking data, resulting in theft of large sums of money.

What Meta’s Technology Does When It Identifies a Deepfake

If Meta’s systems suspect that a post may be a scam, they internally compare the suspicious material with the verified profile photo of the celebrity, using unique technology with the help of facial recognition on Instagram and Facebook.

According to Monika Bickert, “if we confirm that the ad is a scam, we will block it and immediately delete any facial data generated by this comparison, regardless of whether our system finds a match or not. We will never use this material for any other purpose.”

Currently, this mechanism is being tested on a small group of celebrities worldwide, except in the European Union due to regulatory issues. It is also expected that in the coming weeks, more celebrities who have been victims of deepfakes will be notified to give their authorization and be part of this project.

How Scammers Use Celebrity Information on Social Media

Another problem in the digital world is the impersonation of celebrity accounts by scammers to convince their followers to make money transfers.
“Scammers may say that a celebrity endorsed a specific investment or is asking for personal information in exchange for a gift,” stated Meta’s Vice President of Content Policy.

To prevent this, the company is exploring new ways to identify these types of accounts more quickly, but it has not yet moved to the testing phase.

How to Recover an Instagram or Facebook Account

To solve problems when trying to recover an Instagram or Facebook account for various reasons such as forgotten passwords, lost devices, or attempted cyberattacks, facial recognition is being tested through a selfie to restore the account.

“If we believe an account has been compromised, we ask the owner to verify their identity by sharing an official identification document that includes their name,” Bickert explained when asked what would happen if someone tries to impersonate the owner’s selfie.

Additionally, Meta confirmed that the recovery selfie will never appear on the user’s profile, and it, along with any other data generated in this process, will be deleted.

Links

• Meta Testing Celebrity Scam–Spotting Facial Recognition Technology – CNET
• Sell pre-owned electronic device online – iGotOffer

Meta testing new facial recognition to help combat scams [Video]

Video uploaded by NBC News on October 22, 2024.