Are you worried about frenemies posting unflattering images of you on Facebook? Or, concerned that someone might use your image as their profile photo and catfish people? Fear not, because the social network has some new, optional tools that can keep you in the know when someone uploads your image without tagging you.
“Now, if you’re in a photo and are part of the audience for that post, we’ll notify you, even if you haven’t been tagged,” Facebook Director of Applied Machine Learning Joaquin Quiñonero Candela explained in a Tuesday blog post. “You’re in control of your image on Facebook and can make choices such as whether to tag yourself, leave yourself untagged, or reach out to the person who posted the photo if you have concerns about it.”
Candela went on to say that Facebook will respect the privacy setting people select when posting a photo, meaning “you won’t receive a notification if you’re not in the audience.” So, if someone posts your photo to a private group you’re not a part of, you won’t get a notification about it.
In the near future, Facebook also plans to use face-recognition technology to notify you when someone else posts your image as their profile photo.
“We’re doing this to prevent people from impersonating others on Facebook,” Candela wrote.
These new features are powered by the same face-recognition technology Facebook uses to suggest friends you might want to tag in photos and videos.
Facebook is also planning to roll out a “simple on/off switch” to replace the settings for individual features that use face-recognition technology.
“People gave us feedback that they would find it easier to manage face recognition through a simple setting, so we’re pairing these tools with a single ‘on/off’ control,” Candela wrote. If you set this feature to “off,” Facebook won’t be able to recognize you in photos and videos.
Meanwhile, Facebook is also introducing a feature that will tell visually impaired users with screen readers who appear in the photos in their News Feed, even if those people aren’t tagged.
