Meta Fights Fake Celeb Ads With New Facial Recognition Tool

Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, is rolling out a facial recognition tool to combat scam ads featuring celebrities in the UK, the European Union, and South Korea.

Having tested the feature in other regions, Meta plans to expand its reach to protect more public figures.

David Agranovich, Meta’s Director of Cyber Threats, announced that public figures in Britain and the EU will soon receive notifications inviting them to opt into the "celeb-bait" protection tool.

Even if the ad uses generative AI, Agranovich explained:

"We do believe that this tool will help us identify misused images of public figures."

Fraudulent ads using doctored celebrity images are widespread on social media, often tricking users into divulging personal information or sending money.

When enabled, the tool scans a public figure’s profile image and cross-references it with faces in suspected scam ads, automatically blocking those confirmed as fraudulent.

Meta to Integrate Facial Recognition into Account Recovery

Meta has revealed plans to incorporate facial recognition into its account recovery process for all users.

Those who opt in will be able to verify their identity by recording a short video if their account is locked.

The company assured that facial data will only be used for this verification purpose and will be deleted immediately afterward, in compliance with European data protection regulations.

While Meta had paused its facial recognition technology in 2021 due to privacy concerns, it announced in October 2024 that it would reinstate the technology as part of its efforts to combat deceptive ads.