Meta has launched a free verification badge for Facebook that uses facial recognition to confirm a real person is behind a profile, reviving technology the company shut down in 2021 over privacy concerns.
Meta announced “Facebook Verified” recently, describing it as a response to a rise in AI-generated profiles, content and messages on the platform. To qualify, users must be 18 or older, in good standing with Facebook’s Community Standards, and record a short video selfie that the system checks against their existing profile photos. The process is free and takes only a few minutes, according to Meta’s official announcement.
Once verified, the badge appears on Facebook Marketplace, Dating, Groups and a user’s profile, with plans to extend it to Feed posts later. Meta stressed the badge confirms identity only, not trustworthiness, distinguishing it from the paid Meta Verified subscription, which offers additional account perks.
The move is notable, given Meta’s history with facial recognition. The company deleted more than a billion face-recognition templates in November 2021, citing “growing societal concerns” about the technology, and has since paid substantial sums in privacy-related settlements tied to biometric data collection, according to reporting cited in TechTimes’ coverage of the relaunch.
The badge also arrives alongside separate controversy over facial recognition in Meta’s newer smart glasses. In February, the New York Times reported that Meta was building a feature internally called “Name Tag,” which would let smart-glasses wearers identify people around them using Meta AI, and that an internal memo noted the company hoped to launch it during a period when privacy advocates would be distracted by other issues. At the time, the American Civil Liberties
Union’s Nathan Freed Wessler warned the feature could pose a serious threat to public anonymity, according to a report by The Times.
Facebook Verified is rolling out in phases, starting in select markets, with Meta saying global expansion will follow. The badge is not available for Pages or ProMode accounts.
