Facebook Now Lets You Know Of The Photos You Appear In, Even Without Being Tagged

If at some point in your Facebook life have for some reason discovered an ugly photo of yours which was uploaded by a friend (because they looked okay in it) way too late i.e. after it had done enough rounds to be seen by everyone that matters, then this is for you…

Facebook has unveiled a new facial recognition tool that will allow you to be notified if a photo of you (or someone that really looks like you) is uploaded. Initially, you only got to know if there was  an image of you after being tagged. However, now with or without being tagged, if Facebook recognises you in any image, it will let you know.

This comes as an extension of the Tag suggestion, I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with that one. I really hope this algorithm will be much more accurate compared to the one that was being used for the Tag suggestion, otherwise that just means more useless notifications.

So, once Facebook recognises you in an image it will send you a notification that says “so and so added a photo that might include you” then you will be prompted to either tag yourself (if you like it), leave it be (if you’re indifferent about it), ask the one who uploaded it to take it down or report the image to Facebook.

Beyond someone uploading a photo you appear in and don’t like, there are worse scenarios that could make this feature quite handy. There are cases where people might impersonate you; or add a photo of you on a subject that has nothing to do with you (usually inappropriate); or, like a friend of mine be put in some photogrid and captioned as “bae”. Yes, people do such sick things anticipating that you’d never find out since you won’t be tagged in the image.

However, the problem with this feature is that you will only be notified if you’re part of the set audience for that image. So if you appear in an image set for specific friends or customised for a specific audience that you’re not a part of, you will not be notified. In this case, Facebook prioritises the privacy of the uploader.

Also, on that privacy note, Facebook will soon allow you enable or disable facial recognition altogether. If you’re not comfortable with Facebook recognising your face at all, then you will be able to disable it. This will be possible to do in the coming weeks.