Increasing use of facial recognition technology in China faces backlash from city governments

  • Ningbo, in eastern Zhejiang province, has fined three property developers for using facial recognition without customer consent
  • More and more provinces and cities are considering policies to limit the increasing overuse of facial recognition

Facial identification technology on display. Photo: Shutterstock
After China’s annual Consumer Protection Gala in March singled out companies for the misuse of facial recognition, several cities in China are tightening the enforcement of related regulations, as the technology has become widely used for such things as dispensing toilet paper and collecting garbage.

In the city of Ningbo in eastern Zhejiang province, the local market regulator recently fined three property firms for “illegally acquiring customers’ facial information”.

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