On Tuesday, Facebook / Meta announced its plans to shut down its 2010 facial recognition software this month, which has allowed the company to maintain arguably, the largest photo repository in existence, containing face scan data for over 1 billion users.
This new development follows suit very soon after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced last week the company’s intentions to brand its parent company to “Meta,” in efforts of further expanding its platform into the digital frontier, known as the “metaverse.”
But, there’s one problem, which could impact whether or not Facebook could legally move forward with its anticipated rebrand to “Meta.”
Meta: A $20M Trademark Nightmare
An Arizona-based company called Meta PC, beat the company to it, which launched a little over a year ago, which sells computers, laptops, tablets, and tech software, according to documents obtained by TMZ. In August, Meta PC filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to trademark “Meta” in relation to any technological use.
Obviously, this presents a huge conflict for Facebook and its intention to move forward with the “Meta” rebrand.
While the USPTO hasn’t granted Meta PC’s trademark as of the time this article was written, the company’s co-founders Zack Shutt and Joe Targer allegedly told TMZ that they had no intentions of selling the “Meta” name to Zuckerberg for anything less than $20 million.
“Meta” Rebrand and Shutting Down Facial Recognition. Does It Help Facebook?
Not by a longshot.
For those users who have grown accustomed to the facial recognition system, they would receive alerts any time a photo or video of them were uploaded to Facebook – with or without their consent.
Since December 2010, the system would automatically identify people who appeared in users’ photo uploads, by placing an auto-generated square around their face, suggesting users “tag” them with a click.
This has allowed Facebook to build what many consider to be one of the largest photo repositories in the world. This has also been utilized to help flag accounts that may have been using an individual’s name, image, or likeness in violation of the platform’s Terms of Service.
Facebook now joins the ranking of other big tech who have similarly cut the cord on utilizing facial recognition technology, including, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM – all of whom have complied with law enforcement and public concern surrounding privacy, and bias involving the platform’s algorithm.
“Making this change required us to weigh the instances where facial recognition can be helpful against the growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole,” said Jason Grosse, a Meta spokesman.
Frances Haugen
Well, let’s talk about the elephant in the room surrounding company whistleblower Frances Haugen coming forward with testimony that the company intentionally has ignored user safety in efforts to maximize profit.
After leaking tens of thousands of pages of internal company documents (“Facebook Papers“) to the Securities and Exchange Commission, lawmakers, and the Wall Street Journal, Haugen created a brand new firestorm of questions to be answered by the company on its privacy practices – or lack thereof.
One of the biggest takeaways from Haugen coming forward revolves around her proposal that Zuckerberg be removed as CEO from the company.
“I think it is unlikely the company will change if he remains CEO,” she said during an on-stage interview at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon. “I hope that he can see that there’s so much good he can do in the world, and maybe it’s a chance for somebody else to take the reins.”
She added that “…Facebook would be stronger with someone who was willing to focus on safety.”
Lawmakers have asked Zuckerberg to return to Congress to testify, as well as privacy enthusiasts calling for a leadership change at the social media giant. As of now, it doesn’t look like Zuckerberg has any intentions of stepping down from the company, making the company’s future cloudy when it comes to the wishful thinking by privacy and safety experts.
In an interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg responded to a question as to whether he would remain as CEO at Facebook/Meta in the next five years –
“Probably. I don’t have a specific date how long I want to be doing this for. I guess what I could say is I’m very excited about the next chapter of what we’re doing,” Zuckerberg responded.
Facebook’s seemingly rushed and impulsive decision to suddenly rebrand the parent company to “Meta,” was definitely an awkward move considering the seriousness of what Haugen brought forward, causing many in the industry, including early Facebook investor Roger McNamee, to suggest this is another futile attempt by the tech giant to evade accountability.
Last year, Facebook agreed to pay $650 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle a class-action lawsuit which accused the company of violating Illinois law requiring consent to use their biometric information, specifically “face geometry.”
Meta: The Bottom Line
What we’ve continued to see by Facebook / Meta is that it seems to look for new ways to expand, while refusing to solve the issues it ultimately creates, without any plan for remedy.
“Over and over again, Facebook chooses expansion in new areas over sticking the landing on what they’ve already done,” Haugen said.
“As you read through the [Facebook Papers] it states very clearly that there needs to be more resources on very basic safety systems. And instead of investing in making sure that their platforms are a minimal level of safe, they’re about to invest 10,000 engineers in video games. And I can’t imagine how this makes sense.”
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