Meta Launches Facial Recognition to Combat Celebrity Image Fraud on Facebook and Instagram

Meta, the company responsible for Facebook and Instagram, announced a new measure to combat fraud that uses images of famous people inappropriately. Using facial recognition technology, the company aims to identify and block false ads that exploit the image of public figures without proper authorization, thus protecting users from fraud and scams on- line.

The use of famous images to attract public attention is not new. For decades, celebrities have been employed for advertising campaigns, legitimizing products and services in the eyes of consumers. However, the growth of digital platforms has facilitated the spread of false advertisements, which take advantage of the popularity of these public figures to deceive consumers.

These fake ads often lead users to malicious websites where they become victims of data or money theft. According to Meta, the increase in scams of this type has been a growing concern, especially since the differences between legitimate and fraudulent campaigns are often difficult to distinguish. The misuse of celebrity images can lead people to buy products or services believing they are endorsed by these figures, when this is not the case.

To stop these frauds, Meta will introduce the use of facial recognition as part of its ad verification systems. The new technology automatically compares faces appearing in suspicious ads with verified profile pictures of public figures on Facebook and Instagram. If it is recognized that a celebrity’s image is being used without permission, the ad will be blocked immediately.

This new feature will be optional for celebrities, who can choose to activate it to protect their images and avoid fraud related to their name. Meta also ensures that the data generated during this process is deleted immediately after verification, thus preserving the confidentiality of the public figures involved.

In addition to working on fake ads, facial recognition technology will also be used to combat accounts pretending to be celebrities. These fake profiles are often created by cybercriminals with the aim of forcing users to interact with fake content such as romance scams or money sending.

Meta already uses automated systems to review “millions of ads” published daily on its platforms. However, facial recognition will be an important additional tool to detect fraud that may currently go undetected through traditional authentication methods.