As the article on Substack: "Facebook's Decline and Video Selfie Problems" describes, Facebook is in a state of decline, characterized by a loss of daily users and ad sales. Contributing to that decline is its "video selfie" identity program. Not only is Facebook suffering from decreased engagement, less interest from a younger audience, and lower ad revenues, but a growing number of users have dropped out because of Facebook requiring a video selfie to prove one is a real person. The big problem is that the system is locking out real people since the picture taking feature doesn't work very well. That even happened to me after I had an account for over 20 years, and I was unable to get it back despite multiple attempts to take my picture.
The article points out that this loss of users is about half a million in recent months. While Facebook has about 2.11 billion daily active users and around 3.07 billion active users each month, it has recently lost about 500,000 daily users according to the Washington Post. And Facebook's selfie-program is a major source of this loss of users affecting millions of people. A U.S. local tech segment reported that "some 110 million people" get locked out of Facebook accounts annually, many due to selfies.
The way this program works is you have to prove your identity by recording a short selfie in a circle while you turn your head up, right, or left according to a series of random arrows. Then, Facebook uploads a file with your image, sees if it meets its criteria for an acceptable image, and if not, you may be asked to retake it or receive a decline.
Supposedly, Meta set up this system to avoid people setting up fake accounts, curb scams, deepfakes, large-scale impersonation campaigns, and fake IDs. But many real people can't pass the test. Even people with long-time accounts may suddenly find they have to prove they are a real person due to using their account in a way that draws Facebook's attention. Then, they have to go through this selfie process, and if they can't pass the test, they lose their account, may find it difficult or impossible to appeal the decision, and can't speak to anyone personally to restore their account.
The article describes Facebook's decline and problems with its video selfie program in more depth. It discusses my own experience and that of dozens of other former Facebook users who lost their accounts.
You can read the full article on Substack at https://gini.substack.com/p/facebooks-decline-and-its-video-selfie
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Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D. is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 250 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing (http://www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com). She writes books, proposals, and film scripts for clients, and has written and produced 18 feature films and documentaries, including Conned: A True Story and Con Artists Unveiled¸ distributed by Gravitas Ventures. (http://www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com).