Meta will evaluate the facial recognition technology on 50,000 public figures and celebrities in order to reduce the prevalence of deepfake celebrity ad scams.
Meta, a social networking company with nearly 4 billion users, is currently conducting a test to determine the feasibility of utilizing facial recognition technology to address the issue of fake celebrity scam advertisements affecting its platforms.
Meta Introduces Facial Recognition Technology to Fight Scam
Meta announced that it will conduct a facial recognition technology trial with 50,000 public figures and personalities in the upcoming weeks, following the “promising results” of early testing with a small group of celebrities.
Meta stated that the system compares the images in the advertisement with the celebrity’s Facebook and Instagram profile photographs to identify scams. “We will block the advertisement if we confirm a match and determine it to be a scam,” the company emphasized on October 21.
In the past, fraud advertisements have impersonated celebrities, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, American TV host Oprah Winfrey, and Australian mining billionaires Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart.
The social company stated that the action is a component of the organization’s overarching initiative to combat “celeb-bait” scams perpetrated by cybercriminals who have become more adept at obtaining confidential information or money from their victims.
“This scheme, commonly called “celeb-bait,” violates our policies and is bad for people that use our products.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s organization announced that it would send in-app notifications to numerous celebrities identified as targets. These notifications would notify them that they have been included in the protection measure and that they can decline it.
However, Meta may need to exercise caution in light of its recent $1.4 billion settlement with Texas for the unauthorized use of personal biometric data from millions of its residents.
The company declared that it would promptly eliminate facial data generated while assessing whether a celebrity advertisement is fraudulent.
Additionally, it will employ facial recognition technology to enable individuals to confirm their identity and regain access to compromised accounts.
Meta refuted claims from Australia’s consumer regulator that nearly 60% of crypto investment schemes seen on Facebook in August were hoaxes, despite the rise in crypto scam advertisements on Facebook.
AI-generated deepfakes entice numerous victims of these schemes into investing in cryptocurrency.
