Facebook Built (But Never Released) A Facial Recognition App

Given how much Facebook knows about us, partly due to many of us willingly handing that information over, a lot of us have become a bit more wary about Facebook’s intentions these days. Now according to a recent report from Business Insider, it seems that Facebook had at one point in time created a facial recognition app.

The report claims that back in 2015 and 2016, Facebook developed an app internally where they could point the camera on a smartphone at anyone and it will recognize them and pull up relevant information, assuming that they were on Facebook. It sounds a bit worrying as it means that strangers on the street could basically find out who we are without us knowing about it.

However, in a statement made to CNET, Facebook has reassured us that it only worked for accounts that had facial recognition enabled, and that the app was never intended to be released and was only used as a way to “learn about new technologies”. The app is said to have since been discontinued, so luckily for us, this app won’t be seeing the light of day anytime soon.

Whether or not Facebook will attempt to revisit this in the future remains to be seen, but given that the company doesn’t exactly boast the most stellar reputation when it comes to privacy, we’re sure that they plan on treading carefully in those waters.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones, General
Tags: Facebook, Privacy