Is there a dark side to Facebook’s ’10 Year Challenge’ meme?
In the latest social media craze, people are sharing photos of themselves now, compared to how they looked 10 years ago.
The “challenge” is light-hearted, but you may want to think twice before joining in.
That’s according to some critics who have claimed that users’ selfies could unknowingly be used as part of a dataset for Facebook’s facial recognition algorithm to learn age progression and age recognition.
They argue that uploading photos with hashtag #10YearChallenge would make it easy for a facial recognition algorithm to study a set of before-and-after photos.
It could also be used for ad targeting, or other purposes, such as being supplied to law enforcement or insurance companies.
“There’s so much data out there based on this 10 Year Challenge that it can train Artificial Intelligence about how to recognise people” says Sunrise tech expert Val Quinn.
Facebook have come out to say they have nothing to do with the meme and have reminded users that they can turn facial recognition off at any time.
How to turn of Facebook facial recognition
Step 1: Go to your profile and click ‘More,’ on the right, under your profile photo
Step 2: Click ‘View Privacy Shortcuts’
Step 3: Click ‘More Settings’
Step 4: Click ‘Face Recognition’
Step 5: Facebook will offer a quick explainer about why they use face recognition. Click on the question under that, ‘Do you want Facebook to be able to recognize you in photos and videos?’
Step 6: Toggle face recognition from ‘Yes’ to ‘No’
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