Facebook has grown from its small origins as a way for college students to network into the largest social media platform worldwide. Accompanying this growth has been a number of new features that add convenience and make using Facebook just a little more pleasant. However, some recent advancements in technology have resulted in some new Facebook photo options that border on creepy and invasive in the eyes of many users. We’ll detail how to turn off Facebook photo recognition in a short guide below, allowing you to have full control over your privacy while using the popular social network.
What Does This New Feature Do?
Before we go into how exactly to turn off Facebook photo recognition, it makes sense to talk a little bit about how exactly this feature came to be and what exactly it does.
As Facebook users as a whole move more towards posting photos rather than writing text status updates, people will often tag friends and family members in an effort to better connect with their social group. The platform has recently added a feature that will notify users not only when they get tagged by family and friends, but also when any image containing their face has been shared to Facebook.
The theory behind this new feature is that it will allow the platform to crack down on fake accounts. However, it’s possible for impostors to bypass the feature by excluding you from the audience of the post, which kind of makes the feature a lot less useful.
There are also major privacy concerns behind an artificial intelligence learning your likeness and scanning the social network for photos of you. While it may add convenience in a lot of cases, it’s considered invasive by many users who dislike how big of an influence Facebook has become in their lives. With previous reports of the Facebook app “always listening” and providing advertisements based off of things it hears, there’s definitely been a “Big Brother” vibe to the platform as of late.
Fortunately, it’s rather simple to turn off this feature if it comes across as more harmful than helpful.
How To Turn Off Facebook Photo Recognition
The option to turn off Facebook photo recognition isn’t necessarily super easy to find, but if you know where to look it’s as simple as clicking a few buttons.
Disable the feature by taking the following steps.
- Navigate to your Facebook settings
- Click “Timeline and Tagging”
- You’ll see an option that says “Who sees tag suggestions when photos that look like you are uploaded?” Just change the option from Friends to No One.
By going through those few steps, you’ll be able to ensure that you don’t get any notifications if a photo that looks like you is added to the social network. This doesn’t necessarily detract from the fact that Facebook is still a relatively invasive site, but it’s nice to know that you can opt out of one feature that has left many people a little nervous.
