Facebook turns off facial recognition by default for users worldwide

Facebook will disable facial recognition by default for users worldwide. All users will have access to the new Face Recognition option, but users must give explicit permission to enable it.

Facebook has so far only used facial recognition for tag suggestions for many users. In addition, tags are suggested when users upload photos of friends whose faces are recognized. Only names of friends are suggested, names of strangers are not shown.

In late 2017, Facebook introduced the Face Recognition feature to some of its users. That function offers more possibilities with facial recognition. For example, users can set them to receive a warning if someone else uploads a photo that includes themselves. This feature is now available to all users worldwide, but it is disabled by default.

Users will be notified about the new feature with the option to enable or disable it. The old option to only use facial recognition for tag suggestions is gone.

In Europe, facial recognition on Facebook has been disabled by default for some time. In 2011, Facebook tacitly turned on facial recognition among European users. This was turned off after pressure from regulators. Face recognition on Facebook only became available in Europe again in 2018, even then via an opt-in.

A collective lawsuit against Facebook over facial recognition is currently pending in the US. A group of users sued the social network for privacy violations back in 2015, and a court ruled in August that the case could go ahead. If it comes to damages, Facebook may have to pay billions of dollars.