This week, Facebook announced that it will no longer deploy facial recognition technology on its platform in the future.However, Meta, the parent company of the social networking giant, said that this promise does not apply to “Meta Universe” products.To the delight of privacy advocates and critics of facial recognition systems, Facebook said on Monday that it would shut down its facial recognition tools and delete facial templates collected from more than 1 billion people. This technology includes the controversial DeepFace algorithm, which is used to identify people in uploaded photos for the purpose of marking.
Citing Recode reports, although Facebook no longer uses facial recognition software, Meta clarified on Wednesday that this restriction does not extend to “Meta Universe” products.
Meta spokesperson Jason Grosse told the publication: “We believe that this technology has the potential to achieve positive use cases in the future, maintaining privacy, control, and transparency. This is how we are considering how our future computing platforms and devices can best be. We will continue to explore ways to meet people’s needs in a timely manner.”
According to the report, Meta will continue to use various biometric tools because it is actively entering the meta-universe. This includes DeepFace, an artificial intelligence technology that matches facial templates generated by Facebook’s facial recognition system with user photos.
Meta’s meta universe is a multi-user VR space, currently accessed through Portal hardware. With the advent of sophisticated avatars and real-time facial tracking, the platform opens the door to new levels of user data collection, far beyond the boundaries promoted by Facebook.
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