Facebook’s new face recognition policy lets Facebook use information that is already on the platform in new ways. Facebook recently changed the language in its Data Use and Privacy Policy. Some Facebook users are frustrated. Some of the Facebook new face recognition policies raised red flags for people who are worried about making more private data available.

The list of proposed changes in the Facebook new face recognition policy can be seen at the Facebook Site Governance page. A lot of the exact language about Facebook’s new face recognition policy is obscured from users. Facebook now can recognize and manage users’ images to create Sponsored Stories without legal challenges.

The Facebook new face recognition policy changes were court-ordered, ending Facebook’s class-action suit that challenged Facebook’s use of user information for ads and sponsored stories. Facebook settled for $20 million. The suit claimed Facebook could use images and user content for ad content without consent or compensation. Facebook’s new face recognition policy also featured who were under 18.

Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan wrote to Facebook users, “We rewrote the entire advertising section to better explain what we thought was important for people to know about how we use the information we receive to provide relevant ads to people on and off Facebook.”

A German privacy regulator, Johannes Caspar who is the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information said "It is astonishing to find the facial recognition again in the new proposed privacy policy that Facebook published yesterday. We therefore have directly tried to contact officials from Facebook to find out if there is really a change in their data protection policy or if it is just a mistake of translation."

Caspar was already battling Facebook over face recognition technology use. He says Facebook should get explicit consent from users for face recognition or Facebook should delete the data or face a lawsuit.

Last September, Facebook turned off facial recognition for European. Facebook promised to delete all face recognition templates for existing users in Europe.

Facebook initially deleted the face recognition data in response to recommendations from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner that it adjust its privacy policy.

The proposed change says "We are able to suggest that your friend tag you in a picture by scanning and comparing your friend's pictures to information we've put together from your profile pictures and the other photos in which you've been tagged. You can control whether we suggest that another user tag you in a photo using the 'Timeline and Tagging' settings."

Facebook’s new face recognition policy was changed in the U.S. privacy policy and has been translated for European countries, including Germany, but the Irish DPC says Facebook does not yet intend to offer the service in Europe. A Facebook Germany spokesperson said that Facebook is working with regulators to see how to turn face recognition back on in Europe.