Facebook rolls out new facial recognition tools

Facebook is introducing new facial recognition capabilities aimed at that helping individuals better manage how they appear on the platform.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm will give users notifications when their photos appear on Facebook, even when they’re not tagged in a photo by the user who posted it. The company is taking the same facial recognition technology that it uses to create “tag suggestions,” in which its algorithms recognize users’ faces in pictures and suggest that they be tagged.

In instances where a user isn’t tagged in a photo, they often have no way of knowing that the picture of them on Facebook exists.

Now Facebook will let users know of the photos that they’re in, even when they haven’t received a tag notification.

{mosads}The feature could be helpful in preventing fraud. Occasionally, some users will create fake accounts impersonating other individuals by using a photo of them as their profile picture. Facebook will now let users know when this happens with a photo of them.

Facebook notes that the tool won’t work retroactively, meaning that users won’t be notified of previous photos of them which are already on Facebook.