Meta Expands Facial Recognition to Protect Users

Meta has unveiled fresh updates for Facebook Dating, its in-app matchmaking feature first introduced in 2019. Yes, Facebook Dating is still very much alive, and with more users—particularly younger audiences, somewhat unexpectedly—turning to the service in search of meaningful connections, Meta is looking to refine how people discover potential partners through shared interests. The first major addition is a new “dating assistant,” designed to help users surface more relevant matches within the app.  As Meta explains:“Dating assistant is a chat assistant within Facebook Dating that gives you personalized help on your dating journey. It can help you find better matches based on your interests and preferences, giving you refined search and custom match recommendations.” At first glance, this may raise eyebrows, with some wondering if the assistant might begin drafting messages on behalf of users, thereby obscuring their true personality. But according to Meta, that’s not the purpose. As illustrated in the preview, the tool is mainly intended to connect people more effectively by filtering searches with tailored prompts and individual preferences. “The assistant allows users to go beyond traditional traits like height or education, allowing you to enter unique prompts tailored to what you’re looking for. For example, you can write ‘Find me a Brooklyn girl in tech’ and the dating assistant will help you with your search.” Beyond refining searches, the assistant can also suggest date ideas or profile improvements, though not necessarily craft an alternate identity. Still, the possibility of AI helping users present a version of themselves that doesn’t fully align with reality raises questions. Meta, however, views this as a value-add rather than a misrepresentation—though user sentiment will ultimately determine how it’s received. Alongside this, Meta is also introducing a feature called “Meet Cute,” which automatically pairs you with a surprise match generated by its personalized matching algorithm. In essence, if you’re unsure how to enhance your profile or what you’re looking for, Meta’s system can do the heavy lifting—matching you with someone the platform deems a good fit. The updates are notable, particularly given Facebook Dating’s relatively quiet presence within the wider Meta ecosystem.  Yet data suggests usage is trending upward. Axios recently reported that conversations within Facebook Dating among 18- to 29-year-olds climbed by 24% last year. Meta itself notes that: “Hundreds of thousands of young adults (ages 18-29) in the U.S. and Canada create Facebook Dating profiles every month, and young adult matches are up 10% year over year.” So despite its low-key profile, a significant number of young users are turning to Meta’s dating feature to meet potential partners—a logical development given the vast scale of Meta’s apps and its unparalleled data insights for aligning compatibility. In short, Facebook Dating is evolving, offering users more tools to discover partners—or, depending on how you see it, more ways to enhance or even disguise their digital persona. 📢 If you're interested in Facebook Ads Account, don't hesitate to connect with us!🔹 https://linktr.ee/Adshinepro💬 We're always ready to assist you!

Meta has confirmed a relatively small but notable change to its ads system, with the company set to retire its “Automated Ads” option early next year, gradually removing it from Ads Manager in the coming months. Automated Ads were introduced as a bridge product in the wake of Apple’s tracking changes, designed to give advertisers a simplified way to launch campaigns while still leaning on Meta’s optimization tools. With this feature, businesses could set up campaigns directly from their Facebook or Instagram Page by answering a short series of questions about their objectives. Meta would then use those inputs to automate targeting, while also drawing creative assets from existing Page posts. It was intended to sit somewhere between boosting a post and running a full-scale Ads Manager campaign—a streamlined process that provided more control than the former, but less complexity than the latter.  But with Meta’s AI-driven Advantage+ suite now positioned as the centerpiece of its ads system, Automated Ads have effectively become redundant. Advantage+ provides the same ease of use, with greater sophistication and adaptability, and Meta’s long-term vision is to expand it into a one-click ad solution powered almost entirely by AI. That ambition was underscored earlier this year by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who described the company’s roadmap as follows:“We’re going to get to a point where you’re a business, you come to us, you tell us what your objective is, you connect to your bank account, you don’t need any creative, you don’t need any targeting demographic, you don’t need any measurement, except to be able to read the results that we spit out. I think that’s going to be huge, I think it is a redefinition of the category of advertising.” In that context, Automated Ads represent more of an outdated prototype, a stepping stone toward Meta’s broader AI-led vision. For advertisers who still rely on the tool, Meta will steer them toward Advantage+ campaigns instead. The company says the phase-out process has already begun, meaning some accounts may no longer see the option available. Existing Automated Ad campaigns, however, will continue to run until completion. It’s not a major change in practice, but it is another step toward Meta’s ultimate goal: an advertising platform where AI does almost all of the work, leaving businesses with little more to do than define their budget and goals. 📢 If you're interested in Facebook Ads Account, don't hesitate to connect with us!🔹 https://linktr.ee/Adshinepro💬 We're always ready to assist you!

Meta is broadening its use of facial recognition technology in an effort to crack down on the growing wave of celebrity scams—schemes that leverage famous identities to mislead unsuspecting users. The company has been working on facial ID applications for some time. Over the past year, Meta has experimented with using video selfies for account recovery, effectively allowing users to confirm their identity through a facial scan. That same process was extended earlier this year to celebrity accounts in the U.K. and EU, as part of a wider campaign to combat so-called “celeb-bait” scams. With this system in place, Meta can cross-check faces appearing in ads against its database of high-profile figures. When the system detects a match, it then verifies the legitimacy of the promotion with the celebrity’s official profile. After initial trials with a limited set of celebrities in Europe, Meta is now expanding the program to cover a broader range of public figures. As the company explained:“We’re further expanding our use of facial recognition technology to crack down on suspicious accounts impersonating public figures in the EU, UK, and South Korea. In the coming months we also plan to expand our use of this technology to Instagram.” So far, the rollout is confined to just three regions, but Meta seems encouraged by the early results. Since introducing the celeb-bait detection process, reports of fraudulent celebrity ad scams have fallen by 22%. The company also claims its automated detection tools are improving rapidly. “The expansion of facial recognition technology in particular more than doubled the volume of celebrity-bait scam ads we were able to detect and remove in testing. Today, there are nearly 500,000 public figures that are being protected from having their likeness misused in these scams.” The numbers are promising. Still, there remains an underlying unease with facial recognition, particularly when it involves Meta. The company’s history on this front is complicated. In 2021, Meta was forced to shut down its facial recognition systems on Facebook after backlash over automated photo tagging, which regulators found in violation of biometric privacy laws. The fallout led to billions in settlement costs and renewed public skepticism about how tech firms use—and potentially misuse—biometric data. Beyond Meta, the broader debate over facial recognition remains unsettled. In some places, it’s being deployed to scan attendees entering sports arenas, cross-referencing their identity with law enforcement and credit databases in real time. In China, the technology has been taken much further: used to fine jaywalkers, penalize unpaid parking violations, and even track Uyghur Muslims under government surveillance. These examples underscore the darker possibilities of the technology, fueling ongoing concerns about privacy, overreach, and abuse. Against that backdrop, Meta’s decision to reintroduce facial recognition, even in limited form, is notable. Yet the logic is clear. As an identification tool, facial recognition has undeniable utility, and Meta appears to be wagering that public acceptance will grow over time. For now, the company is moving carefully, expanding the program incrementally while monitoring public reaction. In practice, it may prove an effective safeguard against celebrity scams. But whether users are ready to trust Meta with their faces again is another matter entirely. 📢 If you're interested in Facebook Ads Account, don't hesitate to connect with us!🔹 https://linktr.ee/Adshinepro💬 We're always ready to assist you!