The new Face Recognition setting will replace Tag Suggestions, which ostensibly notified you if someone uploaded a photo of you (or who Facebook presumed was you) and offered to automatically tag you in it. The feature was first introduced in 2017, but not everyone got it at the time. Now Facebook is switching over for everyone, and those who’re getting the new setting will have it turned off. Facebook’s AI Applied Research Lead, Srinivas Narayanan, was quick to point out that you might not be able to use all of Facebook’s lovely features that use your face — meaning, the aforementioned feature that lets you know if anyone’s uploaded a pic but hasn’t tagged you in it (I’m pretty sure that’s some kind of social media cardinal sin): I’d make a joke about putting the “face” in “Facebook,” but considering Facebook’s being hit with a class action lawsuit over its allegedly illegal storage of the biometric data of millions of users without their consent… that feels as though it would be in rather poor taste. Last month the company lost a federal appeal that would have stopped the lawsuit, and it could potentially be out billions of dollars. I think I know where the impetus for this change came from. If you’re just getting Face Recognition for the first time, Facebook will send you a notification linking to information about the settings and offering you a chance to turn it on should you so desire.
If you already have Face Recognition, you can turn it off by going to your settings, where you can find it nested under “Privacy,” and selecting “No.”
