Facebook could stop you from accessing the social network unless you’re willing to send in a selfie.
It has been telling users they need to file a ‘clear photo’ or risk being locked out.
Zuckerberg’s firm is demanding selfies as part of a new security test designed to prove people aren’t ‘bots’, the name for automated pieces of software designed to perform tasks online.
Bots have been in the news recently because they have been used to spread fake news and propaganda which is alleged to have played a role in the election of Donald Trump and even the Brexit vote.
It was recently suggested that Russia used Facebook to interfere with the referendum.
a friend sent me this: Facebook is now locking users out of account features, then demanding that those users "verify" their account to get back in by scanning an image of their face. AN IMAGE OF THEIR FACE. pic.twitter.com/T4TIsJFxX8
— can Amy Goodman pls stop inviting Assange on thx (@flexlibris) November 28, 2017
Facebook told Wired the selfie security system would ‘help us catch suspicious activity at various points of interaction on the site, including creating an account, sending friend requests, setting up ads payments, and creating or editing ads’.
On Twitter, Facebookers said they received a message which said: ‘Please upload a photo of yourself that clearly shows your face. We’ll check it and then permanently delete it from our servers.’
Facebook is not the only company which uses pictures of its users to vouch for their identity.
Apple recently introduced Face ID, a clever security system which is used to unlock the iPhone X, which features a front-facing camera capable of scanning the contours of someone’s face.
Apple is very conscious of its users’ privacy, so the data gathered during Face ID scans is kept in a ‘vault’ within each iPhone X and cannot be transferred to another device.
It is not stored on a central server and Apple does not collect any images of its customers’ faces.
Facebook, on the other hand, is explicitly asking to see images of your face – and asking you to trust it to delete any selfies you send it.
It recently asked people worried about revenge porn to send in their nudes or graphic sex images if they have become concerned a partner is planning to publish them on the social network.
The company’s lust for images of its users is likely to spark privacy concerns among people worried that Facebook wants to hoover up too much private information.
In 2011, a judge ruled that its facial recognition software broke European laws because it effectively collected sensitive biometric data without users’ consent.
MORE: How to know if someone blocked you on Facebook
MORE: Facebook reveals what it knows about Russia’s influence on Brexit
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