If you missed the Facebook notification prompting you for both notice and consent to collect your biometric information, you may be wondering how to turn off Facebook’s facial recognition settings.
Before I show you how to turn off the face recognition features, you may want to know how Facebook is currently using your biometric data that they are collecting.
How is Facebook Using Facial Recognition?
According to Facebook, they are using face recognition technology for more ways than just suggesting tags. Here’s what features Facebook is using your facial data for:
- Letting you tag people quickly and easily
- Helping to protect you from strangers using a photo of you as their profile picture
- Helping people with visual impairments by telling them who’s in a photo or video
- Letting you know when you might appear in photos or videos, but haven’t been tagged
They may add more features later, but currently, these are the only features that Facebook is using our facial data for.
People started noticing the notification the day after a federal judge ruled Facebook Inc. must face claims that they are gathering and storing biometric data without users’ consent – potentially violating the privacy of millions of users.
Luckily, there’s a quick fix.
If you don’t want to Facebook to recognize your face to use these new features, it’s really easy to turn it off in your privacy settings.
Turning Off Facebook’s Facial Recognition on Mobile Devices
Here’s how to turn off Facebook’s facial recognition settings in the app in 5 easy steps:
Step 1: Open the Facebook app and tap the icon furthest to the bottom right, and then tap ‘Settings’
Step 2: Then Tap ‘Account Settings’
Step 3: Next, Tap ‘Face Recognition’
Step 4: Now Tap ‘Do you want Facebook to be able to recognize you in photos and videos?’ (Or click ‘Learn More’ if you’d like to read Facebook’s explanation)
Step 5: Lastly, Tap ‘No’ to turn off Facebook’s facial recognition feature
Disabling Facebook’s Facial Recognition on Desktop Browsers
Here’s how to opt-out of Facebook’s facial recognition settings on a desktop computer in 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Click the down arrow on the menu bar at the top of Facebook, then click ‘Settings’
Step 2: Next, click ‘Face Recognition’
Step 3: And last, click ‘Edit’ to select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
And now you’re all set. If you change your mind in the future, this feature can be turned on or off at any time.
Be sure to share this article if you know someone who might want this feature turned off!
