The Business of Your Face
Your face has become one of the most valuable commodities in the digital economy. Unlike your email address or phone number, your face is unique, unchangeable, and connects everything about you into one identifiable package.
A vast industry has emerged around collecting, analyzing, and monetizing facial data—often without your knowledge or meaningful consent.
Who's Collecting Your Face?
Social Media Platforms
Every photo you upload to social media becomes training data for facial recognition algorithms:
- Facebook/Meta — Built one of the world's largest facial recognition databases before public pressure forced them to delete it in 2021 (though their AI still processes faces)
- TikTok — Collects "faceprints and voiceprints" according to their privacy policy
- Google Photos — Uses facial recognition for automatic tagging and organization
- Snapchat — Processes facial data for filters and lenses
Data Brokers and Scrapers
Companies like Clearview AI have built databases by scraping billions of photos from the public internet:
- Clearview AI claims over 30 billion facial images
- PimEyes lets anyone search for faces across the internet
- Numerous smaller companies operate in the shadows
Retailers and Public Spaces
Facial recognition is increasingly deployed in physical spaces:
- Retail stores tracking shoppers and preventing theft
- Airports and border crossings for identity verification
- Smart billboards that analyze viewer demographics
- Stadiums and event venues for crowd surveillance
If you've ever posted a photo online, your face is likely in multiple corporate databases right now.
What They Do With It
1. Identity Verification
Banks, employers, and services use facial recognition to verify you are who you claim to be. While this has legitimate uses, it also creates permanent biometric records linked to your identity.
2. Advertising and Personalization
Your face enables targeted advertising in new ways:
- Age and gender detection for demographic targeting
- Emotion detection to gauge ad effectiveness
- Attention tracking to measure engagement
- Cross-platform identification for unified ad profiles
3. Surveillance and Tracking
Governments and corporations use facial data to track movements and associations:
- Law enforcement identifying suspects (and often innocent people)
- Tracking protesters and activists
- Monitoring public spaces in real-time
- Building networks of who associates with whom
4. AI Training
Your facial images help train AI systems for:
- Improving recognition accuracy
- Deepfake generation
- Emotion and sentiment analysis
- Age progression algorithms
5. Data Sales
Facial data is bought and sold like any other commodity:
- Insurance companies assessing risk
- Employers screening candidates
- Landlords vetting tenants
- Anyone willing to pay
The Problems With This System
No Meaningful Consent
When you agree to terms of service, you rarely understand—or can reasonably refuse—how your facial data will be used. Consent buried in 50-page legal documents isn't real consent.
Accuracy Issues
Facial recognition systems have significant error rates, especially for:
- People of color
- Women
- Elderly individuals
- Non-binary individuals
These errors have led to wrongful arrests, denied services, and discrimination.
Mission Creep
Data collected for one purpose is routinely used for others. Your beach vacation photo might end up in a law enforcement database or used to train surveillance systems.
Security Risks
Facial databases are hacked regularly. Unlike a stolen password, you can't change your face. A breach of facial data is permanent.
No Regulation
In most jurisdictions, there are few laws governing how facial data can be collected, stored, or used. Companies largely police themselves—or don't.
Know Your Rights
United States
Few federal protections exist. Some states have enacted laws:
- Illinois BIPA — Requires consent for biometric collection
- California CCPA — Gives consumers some control over personal data
- Several cities — Have banned government facial recognition
European Union
GDPR provides stronger protections:
- Biometric data classified as "special category"
- Explicit consent required in many cases
- Right to erasure (though enforcement is challenging)
Other Regions
Protections vary widely. Some countries have strong laws; others have none. Many have laws on paper that aren't enforced.
How to Protect Yourself
1. Minimize Exposure
The less your face appears online, the harder you are to track. Consider which photos really need to be public.
2. Protect Faces Before Sharing
Use tools like HiddenFace to blur or cover faces before posting photos publicly. Share the moment without sharing the biometric data.
3. Opt Out Where Possible
Some services allow you to opt out of facial recognition. Check privacy settings and exercise these options.
4. Use Privacy-Respecting Services
Choose platforms and services that don't collect facial data or that process data locally on your device.
5. Support Legislation
Advocate for stronger privacy laws and regulations around biometric data. Individual action matters, but systemic change requires policy.
The Future of Facial Privacy
The technology will only become more powerful, more pervasive, and more difficult to escape. The choices we make now—as individuals and as a society—will determine whether we maintain any meaningful facial privacy.
Your face is yours. It's time to start treating it that way.
Take Back Control
Download HiddenFace and stop contributing to facial databases.
