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Consumer Reports’s Complaint to the FTC Regarding Facebook’s Face Recognition Setting

Consumer Reports asks the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook, Inc.’s representations of the availability of the Face Recognition setting on its platform. Facebook represented since December 2017 that adult, US-based users would have the ability to prevent Facebook from: Facebook from: scanning photos and videos; creating face templates and retaining that data; or any further application of facial recognition technology to their photos or videos or those uploaded by others. However, our research indicates that some consumers lack this important privacy control. This complaint concerns undisclosed and unclear distribution of the Face Recognition privacy setting that should be considered unfair and deceptive trade practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act.