Facebook said today it will be shutting its facial recognition system amid uncertainty over a “clear set of rules governing its use”.

The company said the move will delete “facial recognition templates” of over 1 billion people. The process is likely to be completed by December.

The social media giant informed that over a third of Facebook’s users had opted for the facial recognition setting on its platform. The company has been under fire in recent years over privacy concerns and data leaks.

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“There are many concerns about the place of facial recognition technology in society, and regulators are still in the process of providing a clear set of rules governing its use,” parent company Meta said, adding, “amid this ongoing uncertainty, we believe that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate,” it added.

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Facebook’s vice president Nick Clegg had said on Monday that the company had made changes to its policies since 2014 while acknowledging that “legitimate questions” have been raised over its work in “fragile” countries. 

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Frances Haugen, 37, the former Facebook engineer had earlier leaked data as she accused the company of fuelling hate.

“It pushes you to the extremes and it fans hate,” Haugen told British lawmakers. “Anger and hate is the easiest way to grow on Facebook… bad actors have an incentive to play the algorithm, and they figure out all the ways to optimise Facebook,” the Facebook whistleblower said.

Haugen also accused the company of putting profits before safety.

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“I think it is unlikely the company will change if [Mark Zuckerberg] remains the CEO,” she said as she asked the Facebook founder to step down as web summit.

Facebook had rebranded itself last week naming the company Meta as it sought to focus on “metaverse”.

(With inputs from Agencies)