Figma pulls AI design tool after it copies Apple's weather app
Figma removed its Make Designs AI feature after it was found to generate app mockups nearly identical to Apple's iOS weather app. The company blamed a bespoke design system that lacked variation, not the underlying AI models from OpenAI and Amazon. Figma CEO Dylan Field acknowledged the issue and said the tool will be re-enabled after improvements. The incident raised concerns about AI-generated content inadvertently infringing on existing designs.
- Company involved
- Figma
- AI system involved
- Make Designs
2 source articles · read the reporting →
FMA Warns of Deepfake Impersonation Scam Targeting Kiwi Investors
The New Zealand Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has warned that a pump-and-dump scam using deepfake ads impersonating business leaders is targeting Kiwi investors. Victims are lured into WhatsApp groups via social media ads and encouraged to buy low-value shares, artificially inflating prices before scammers sell, leaving investors with losses. The FMA has received multiple complaints and is sharing information with overseas regulators, while urging the public to be cautious of unsolicited investment advice.
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Facebook's platform used to foment violence in Myanmar
Facebook commissioned an independent human rights impact assessment that concluded the company was not doing enough to prevent its platform from being used to foment division and incite offline violence in Myanmar. The assessment, conducted by BSR, found that Facebook's content moderation and AI systems failed to adequately detect and remove hate speech and misinformation, contributing to real-world harm. Facebook acknowledged the findings and implemented corrective measures, including hiring more local language reviewers and improving AI detection.
- Company involved
- Facebook
- AI system involved
- Facebook platform
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Deepfake of Mark Zuckerberg tests Facebook's fake video policies
Two artists and an advertising company created a deepfake video of Mark Zuckerberg using CannyAI's video dialogue replacement technology and uploaded it to Instagram. The video shows Zuckerberg saying things he never said about controlling data. Facebook stated it would treat the content as misinformation and de-prioritize it. The incident tests Facebook's policies on manipulated media.
- Company involved
- Facebook
- AI system involved
- CannyAI VDR
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Spamouflage Operation Used AI-Generated Deepfake Videos for Pro-Chinese Influence
In late 2022, Graphika observed the pro-Chinese influence operation Spamouflage promoting videos featuring AI-generated fictitious people. The footage was created using a commercial AI video platform from a UK company. The videos were low-quality and received fewer than 300 views, but Graphika warns that such tools could enable more convincing deception at scale.
- Company involved
- Spamouflage
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Facebook faces class action over Tag Suggestions facial recognition data collection
Facebook users in Illinois allege that Facebook collected their biometric face data without notice or consent through its Tag Suggestions tool, which uses facial recognition software. The class action, Patel v Facebook, was brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. Facebook disputes the claim, arguing that the users suffered no harm beyond the alleged statutory violation. The case was before the Ninth Circuit on an appeal of the class certification.
- Company involved
- Facebook
- AI system involved
- Tag Suggestions
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Facebook fails to catch extremist content in East Africa, study finds
A study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that Facebook failed to remove posts supporting Islamic State and al-Shabab in East Africa, despite them carrying extremist branding and calls for violence in local languages. The lapses by both artificial intelligence and human moderators allowed 445 public profiles to share the content, raising concerns ahead of Kenya's presidential election. Facebook acknowledged the issue and removed some accounts, but critics say the platform's moderation failures threaten democratic institutions and public safety.
- Company involved
- Facebook
2 source articles · read the reporting →
丰巢刷脸取件被小学生用照片破解
嘉兴小学生发现用打印照片即可破解丰巢智能柜的刷脸取件功能。丰巢回应称该功能为试运营beta版本，已紧急下线。该漏洞源于2D人脸识别技术，容易被照片欺骗。
- Company involved
- 丰巢
- AI system involved
- 丰巢智能柜
5 source articles · read the reporting →
UCLA abandons facial recognition plans after test reveals racial bias
UCLA had proposed using facial recognition surveillance on campus, scanning faces and checking them against a mugshot database. Fight for the Future tested Amazon Rekognition on photos of UCLA sports teams and faculty, finding that the software falsely matched 58 individuals, mostly people of color, with mugshot photos. Following community backlash and the test results, UCLA's administration announced it was abandoning the plan.
- Company involved
- UCLA
- AI system involved
- Rekognition
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Chuck Schumer calls for FBI and FTC probe into FaceApp privacy risks
Senator Chuck Schumer posted on X calling on the FBI and FTC to investigate national security and privacy risks of FaceApp, a photo-editing app owned by a Russia-based company. The app requires users to provide full, irrevocable access to their personal photos and data. Schumer's post alleges that millions of Americans who used the app may be at risk.
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Facebook apologises for blocking homemade mask volunteer groups
Facebook apologised after its automated systems blocked volunteer groups sharing information about making and donating homemade masks for the medical community. The systems were set up to prevent the sale of medical masks but inadvertently hampered donation efforts. Facebook said it would update its systems to avoid such mistakes.
- Company involved
- Facebook
- AI system involved
- Mask-related content moderation system
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Facebook sued for harvesting Instagram users' facial scans
A class action lawsuit alleges that Facebook, Inc. illegally harvested the facial scans of over 100 million Instagram users without their consent, in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The lawsuit claims that Facebook's facial recognition software automatically scanned faces in photos and created biometric templates without providing required notices or obtaining informed consent. The case was sent to arbitration in March 2022 after a federal judge found that the plaintiffs agreed to Instagram's arbitration clause.
- Company involved
- Facebook, Inc.
- AI system involved
- Instagram facial recognition system
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Apple Face ID fails to distinguish between siblings in video
A video posted on Reddit shows Apple's Face ID unlocking an iPhone X for a sibling who was not the enrolled user, after he put on glasses similar to his brother's. The system had been set up by the other brother, and the video demonstrates that Face ID can be fooled by siblings with similar facial features. Apple has acknowledged that Face ID may be less secure for siblings with similar appearances.
- Company involved
- Apple
- AI system involved
- Face ID
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Workaround compiled Instagram selfies into face-mask facial recognition training set
Workaround, an AI startup, published the COVID19 Mask Image Dataset in April 2020, containing more than 1,200 photographs of people wearing face masks scraped from Instagram without their knowledge or consent. The dataset was intended to help train facial recognition algorithms so they could identify people whose faces are partly covered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm's chief executive acknowledged that the people pictured were not asked for permission and were unaware they were included. Facebook said it was investigating and does not allow third parties to use photos in this way without consent.
- Company involved
- Workaround
- AI system involved
- COVID19 Mask Image Dataset
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Chinese propaganda network used AI-generated faces on Facebook
Facebook removed two networks of fake accounts spreading propaganda, one originating from China and one from the Philippines. The Chinese network used AI-generated faces created through Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to create fake profiles and evade detection. The campaign targeted the US election and Southeast Asia, pushing pro-China content. Facebook took down the accounts and published a report with Graphika.
- Company involved
- Chinese propaganda network (Fujian province)
- AI system involved
- GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks)
10 source articles · read the reporting →
DiveFace face-recognition dataset reuses Flickr photos despite licence restrictions
DiveFace is a face-recognition dataset published in 2019 with 139,677 images of about 24,000 people. The authors say the images came from Flickr via the MegaFace and YFCC100M datasets and were automatically labelled by gender and ethnicity. Exposing.ai found that many of the photos carry Creative Commons licences which prohibit derivative use, suggesting the dataset may have been assembled without proper permission. The dataset remains available from the authors' GitHub page.
- AI system involved
- DiveFace
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Zao deepfake app sparks privacy and fraud fears in China
The Zao face-swapping app, developed by Momo, sparked privacy and fraud fears after its launch in China on 29 August 2019. The app's terms and conditions initially gave the developer permanent rights to use users' images, which experts said broke Chinese law. Momo subsequently apologized and deleted the controversial clause. Alipay assured users that deepfakes could not bypass its facial recognition payment system.
- Company involved
- Momo
- AI system involved
- Zao
10 source articles · read the reporting →
FindFace facial recognition app used to out sex workers in Russia
The FindFace facial recognition app is being used by users of the Russian website Dvach to identify porn actresses and sex workers from images and match them to their VKontakte accounts. The users then spam the victims' families and friends with the information, aiming to out them. Several victims complained to FindFace, but the founder stated there was no way to prevent the misuse.
- Company involved
- FindFace
- AI system involved
- FindFace
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Faces of the Riot publishes extracted faces from Parler Capitol riot videos
The website Faces of the Riot used open source facial recognition software to extract and publish over 6,000 faces from Parler videos of the January 6 Capitol riot. The creator, an anonymous college student, aimed to help identify participants in the insurrection. The site has been criticised for privacy violations and potential vigilante misuse. The creator says they are working to remove non-rioter faces.
- Company involved
- Faces of the Riot
- AI system involved
- Faces of the Riot
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Qoves facial assessment tool ranks journalist's attractiveness and suggests procedures
Tate Ryan-Mosley, a journalist at MIT Technology Review, used Qoves Studio's AI facial assessment tool, which automatically scored her face and listed perceived flaws such as smile lines and under-eye bags. The tool recommended skin-care products and paid surgical consultation reports. She also tried Megvii's Face++ beauty-scoring system, which gave her two percentage attractiveness scores. The article raises concerns that such algorithms are inaccurate, biased and not transparently used by social media platforms.
- Company involved
- Qoves Studio
- AI system involved
- Facial Assessment Tool
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Huawei and Megvii tested Uyghur alarm facial recognition system
Huawei and Megvii conducted an interoperability test in 2018 that verified a 'Uyghur alarm' function in Megvii's facial recognition system, according to a confidential report found by IPVM. The system could identify Uyghur minorities and alert police. Huawei denied real-world application and deleted the report after IPVM inquired. Megvii denied targeting ethnic groups. The test report was publicly accessible on Huawei's European website.
- Company involved
- Huawei
- AI system involved
- Megvii Dynamic Face Recognition
10 source articles · read the reporting →
TikTok's beauty filter changed users' faces without their consent
TikTok users reported that the app applied an unwanted beauty filter to their videos, altering the shape of their faces. The effect, which appeared on some Android devices, could not be turned off and caused distress, including gender dysphoria for one user. TikTok acknowledged the issue and said it had been resolved, but did not explain the cause.
- Company involved
- TikTok
- AI system involved
- TikTok's beauty filter
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Plastic Forte fined for using facial recognition on workers without notice
The Spanish data protection agency AEPD fined Plastic Forte, a plastics manufacturer in Alicante, €20,000 for using facial recognition to record employees' working hours without informing them. A worker requested information about his personal data and discovered the biometric processing. The company initially argued it was only for time tracking but later acknowledged responsibility, resulting in a reduced fine of €12,000. The AEPD deemed facial recognition for time control as highly intrusive and requiring prior impact assessment.
- Company involved
- Plastic Forte
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Facebook fined for using facial recognition without consent in South Korea
Facebook created and stored facial recognition templates of 200,000 South Korean users without their consent between April 2018 and September 2019. South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) fined Facebook $5.5 million and ordered it to destroy the collected data and obtain proper consent. The PIPC also fined Netflix and issued a warning to Google for other privacy violations.
- Company involved
- Facebook
- AI system involved
- Facial recognition system
8 source articles · read the reporting →
