Testing new ways to combat scams

Scammers often use public figures and celebrities' images to bait people into engaging with scam content, including ads. This type of scam can harm both those who are victimized by the unauthorized use of their likeness, as well as members of the public who are deceived by scam “endorsements.”

To help reduce these scams and prevent ads that misuse images, Meta is testing a new solution with a small number of public figures’ accounts. The aim of this is to be able to detect these scams faster so we can stop them.

How this works

• If we suspect an ad is a scam and may contain a photo of a public figure’s face, we will compare the face against public figures’ Facebook and Instagram profile pictures using facial recognition.
• This means that the review is done by an automated system rather than manual review by a person, where we only compare the faces in photos to confirm that it is the same person. This process is more accurate, done in real time and faster.
• If the system detects a match, we will check to confirm if the ad is a scam.
• If we confirm that the ad is a scam, we will take it down.

When users are notified

• We will send notifications to all eligible public figures in advance of any use of this technology for addressing celebrity-bait scams.
• Public figures included in this initial testing will receive a notification from Meta and will have the option to opt-out of the test.