Facebook is considering secretly watching and recording users through their webcams and smartphone cameras, and we already feel violated to be honest.
A recently discovered patent document explains how the company would use technology to see how your expressions alter when you come across different types of content on the site.
It would analyse the images to work out how you feel, and use the information to keep you on the site for longer - no thanks.
If you laughed while looking at pictures of one of your friends, Facebook’s algorithm would take note of that friend, and display more pictures them in your News Feed - they've gone too far.
Another example included in the patent application said that if you looked away from your screen when a video of a kitten played, Facebook would stop showing similar type of videos in your Feed.
We are officially freaked out.
In another case, the document says that if you happened to watch an advert for whiskey, Facebook could choose to target you with more adverts for whiskey.
Apparently, the patent was submitted in February 2014 and published in August 2015, but was only recently discovered by CBInsights.
"We often seek patents for technology we never implement, and patents should not be taken as an indication of future plans,” said a Facebook spokesperson.
The discovery of the patent document raises more concerns about Facebook, who, in 2014, was found to have secretly manipulated thousands of users’ feeds as part of an experiment to work out if it could affect people’s emotions.
YIKES.
The company later admitted that it “failed to communicate clearly why and how we did it”.
The site has not put the patent's plans into action yet, and there is no guarantee that it ever will.
What do you reckon? Has Facebook gone too far with this?
