{"id":25363,"date":"2024-10-22T05:10:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T13:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/22\/news-19093\/"},"modified":"2024-10-22T05:10:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T13:10:08","slug":"news-19093","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/22\/news-19093\/","title":{"rendered":"Upload a video selfie to get your Facebook or Instagram account back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram says<\/a> its testing new ways to use facial recognition\u2014both to combat scams and to help restore access to compromised accounts.<\/p>\n

The social media giant is testing the use of video selfies and facial recognition to help users get their hijacked accounts back. Social media accounts are often lost when users forget their password, switch devices, or when they inadvertently or even willingly give their credentials to a scammer.<\/p>\n

Another reason for Meta to use facial recognition are what it calls \u201cceleb-bait ads.\u201d Scammers often try to use images of public figures to trick people into engaging with ads that lead to fraudulent websites.<\/p>\n

Since it’s trivial to set up an account that looks like a celebrity, scammers use this to attract visitors for various reasons, ranging from like-farming<\/a> (a method to raise the popularity of a site or domain) to imposter scams, where accounts that seem to belong to celebrities reach out to you in order to defraud you.<\/p>\n

\"5
Several accounts that seem to belong to the same actor<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meta\u2019s existing ad review system uses machine learning to review the millions of ads that are run across Meta platforms every day. With a new facial recognition addition to that system, Meta can compare faces in the ad to the public figure\u2019s Facebook and Instagram profile pictures, and then block them if it’s fake.<\/p>\n

According to Meta:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cEarly testing with a small group of celebrities and public figures shows promising results in increasing the speed and efficacy with which we can detect and enforce against this type of scam.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Over the coming weeks, Meta intends to start informing a larger group of celebs who have been used in scam ads that they will be enrolled into the new scheme and allow them to opt out if that\u2019s what they want.<\/p>\n

The problem of celeb-bait ads is a big one and I applaud Meta for trying to do something about it. The account recovery by video selfie, however, is something I\u2019m far less fond of.<\/p>\n

The idea of using facial recognition on social media is not new. In 2021, Meta shut down the Face Recognition system on Facebook<\/a> as part of a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in their products.<\/p>\n

In the newly-announced system, the user can upload a video selfie, and Meta will use facial recognition technology to compare the selfie to the profile pictures on the account they\u2019re trying to access. This is similar to identity verification tools you might already use to unlock your phone or access other apps. <\/p>\n

I do have a few questions though:<\/p>\n