Facebook quietly rolls out facial recognition technology

The social networking giant initially announced the Tag Suggestions in a blog post in December when it rolled out in the US.

It did not mention that this was being expanded to other countries until Sophos, the software firm, alerted consumers in a blog post yesterday, that "now might be a good time to check your privacy settings".

The purpose of the technology is to make tagging photos on Facebook, which happens 100 million times a day, easier. If the technology identifies a user's face in a new photo added to the site it will give the uploader the option of tagging the user in the photo.

Facebook has introduced the feature as a default, meaning users must opt out of the "suggest photos of me to friends now" in their privacy settings if they do not wish to be tagged automatically.

Facebook said in a statement, "We should have been more clear with people during the roll-out process when this became available to them. Tag Suggestions are now available in most countries and we'll post further updates to our blog over time."

A spokeswoman could not confirm exact timings of the rollout or when it would be available to all of its 600 million users.

It has since posted on its official blog, writing that it will continue to post updates as the rollout progresses.

When Facebook launched the Places check-in feature last year, users were required to opt out via their privacy settings if they did not want to be mentioned in a friend’s check in.

It was recently revealed that Facebook had hired a PR firm to spread stories about how Google was using consumers’ data for inclusion in its Social Circles, without alerting them first.