Facebook wants to make it easier for people to "manage their identity" on the social network with the help of Photo Review, a new tool that taps facial recognition technology.
The new Facebook facial recognition feature is designed to detect when users appear in other people's photos, even if they're not tagged, and notify them so they can manage the situation.
This way, upon receiving a notification that they appeared in someone's photos on Facebook, users can either tag themselves in the photos or ask the respective person to take them down. Alternately, if neither of these options is good, users will also be able to report the photos to Facebook.
Facebook Photo Review Perks
This new feature relies on facial recognition, and it's designed to give users some peace of mind that photos of them are not circulating on the social network without them knowing about it. This could also prove to be helpful in cases when one person tries to impersonate another or when users fear adding photos of themselves because they're worried they might end up in the wrong hands or be widely distributed without their permission or knowledge.
"Powered by the same technology we've used to suggest friends you may want to tag in photos or videos, these new features help you find photos that you're not tagged in and help you detect when others might be attempting to use your image as their profile picture," Facebook explains.
Facebook Photo Notifications: How It Works
Facebook will notify users when they appear in someone's photo, even if they're not tagged, as long as they are part of the selected audience for that post or if the post in question is set to public. Otherwise, Facebook will not send alerts in order to protect the privacy of the uploader.
In other words, Facebook users might still appear in other users' photos and not be aware of it, depending on the audience limitations and whether or not the people are friends on Facebook. If the person in the photo is not in the uploader's audience for that post, they will not get any notifications.
Users will be able to keep track of all of their recognized photos on Facebook, even those they're not tagged in, from the new Photo Review section of one's profile. The new Facebook Photo Review will roll out globally in the next few weeks, except for Canada and Europe, where facial recognition tech would violate privacy laws.
