Breaking: Facebook to Shut Down its Facial Recognition System | Is this Another of its Maneuvers to Stifle Legislators & Regulators Determined to Break up, Tame, or Hold the Tech Giant to Account? | The Facebook Papers.

Facebook Inc. announced today that it is shutting down its facial recognition system, which automatically identifies users in photos and videos, citing growing societal concerns about the use of such technology.

“I believe this is another one of Facebooks strategic maneuvers to stifle legislators & regulators who are determined to break it up, tame it by heavily regulating it, and/or hold the tech giant to account after the Facebook Papers” said a senior MLi Group Privacy Expert.

“Whether these legislators and regulators will fall in line, or fall for for this ploy, or whether some will start chanting the narrative that self regulation does work still, as they have in the past to keep the status quo unchanged, remain to be seen,” the expert later added.

Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence at Facebook, wrote in a blog post “Regulators are still in the process of providing a clear set of rules governing its use.” Pesenti added “amid this ongoing uncertainty, we believe that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate.”

The removal of face recognition by the world’s largest social media platform comes as the tech industry has faced a reckoning over the past few years over the ethics of using the technology, and especially in light of the Damning Facebook Papers revealed by former Facebook VP and whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Critics say facial recognition technology – which is popular among retailers, hospitals and other businesses for security purposes – could compromise privacy, target marginalized groups and normalize intrusive surveillance. The removal will roll out globally and is expected to be complete by December, a Facebook spokesperson said.