European Parliament Backs Resolution Restricting Use of Facial Recognition Tech in Public

The European Parliament on Wednesday, 6 October, called on European Union lawmakers to restrict police use of automated facial recognition technology in public places. The non-binding resolution was adopted by the Parliament, receiving 377 votes in favour, 248 against and 62 abstentions.

Credit: Damir Sagolj via Reuters

"Fundamental rights are unconditional. For the first time ever, we are calling for a moratorium on the deployment of facial recognition systems for law enforcement purposes, as the technology has proven to be ineffective and often leads to discriminatory results," said the resolution’s author Petar Vitanov.

The MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) believe that citizens should only be monitored when suspected of a crime, citing how artificial intelligence-based systems are prone to misidentifying minority ethnic groups, LGBTI people, seniors and women. They added that human supervision and legal protections are needed to prevent discrimination by AI.