Looks like a bad news for Facebook's European users as the social network's new photo-sharing app Moments will not be made available in Europe.
Facebook launched a new photo-sharing app, "Moments," earlier this week in the US. The app allows users to share mobile-phone photos with friends without posting them publicly.
Facebook's European users however were left out of the party: Facebook has said that Moments won't launch on the continent citing the social network's worry that European regulators will object to the app's use of facial recognition.
Facebook's head of policy in Europe, Richard Allan told the Wall Street Journal, "Regulators have told us we have to offer an opt-in choice to people to do this."
"We don't have an opt-in mechanism so it is turned off until we develop one."
Allan noted that there's currently no timeline for the social networking giant to develop such an option.
It's no secret, European regulators do not like facial recognition, in fact Facebook was even forced to withdraw the technology for European users on its main site back in 2012 following an audit by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner.
At the time Facebook noted that it would reintroduce the feature, "once we have agreed an approach on the best way to notify and educate users."
However judging by the roll-out of Moments, it looks like the efforts made since then has not been sufficient. That being said, Facebook isn't alone as far as facing restrictions in this area is concerned.
Google recently launched Google Photos app which makes use of facial recognition to sort snaps by who is in them, but the Web giant limits its use of the technology to the US, The Verge noted.
Despite the fact that Facebook's use of the facial recognition technology was not well-received by the European and Canadian regulators, the social network is taking the technology quite seriously. Facebook earlier this year announced that its DeepFace AI system was powerful enough to identify users with an unbelievable 97.25% level of accuracy.
Facebook was also forced to make facial scanning and tagging an opt-in feature in Europe, though the photo tagging suggestions is automatically set to be used on all users in the US.
Nevertheless, the system is the subject of debate in the US too as more and more technology and other firms are using it now. Recent talks between privacy organizations and government agencies with an intention to create a code of conduct around facial recognition technology broke down since they couldn't reach an agreement, BBC noted.
The privacy groups in a joint statement said, "At a base minimum, people should be able to walk down a public street without fear that companies they've never heard of are tracking their every movement - and identifying them by name - using facial recognition technology."
"Unfortunately, we have been unable to obtain agreement even with that basic, specific premise," the privacy groups noted.
This week it was also revealed that the Belgian data protection watchdog was taking the social network giant to court over claims that it tracks people's internet activity even outside its site.
