Why is Facebook shutting down its facial recognition system and deleting ‘faceprints’?

The social media giant is putting a stop to its technology that identifies people in photos. We look at what prompted the move and what it means for users

Facebook has announced it is deleting about 1bn faceprints" it used as part of a facial recognition system for photo tagging, citing concerns with the technology.

Meta, the company formally known as Facebook, announced on Tuesday it would end its use of facial recognition technology in the coming weeks. A third of Facebook's users, or about 1 billion people, had opted into the service, Meta's vice-president of artificial intelligence Jerome Pesenti said.