The facial recognition software FindFace allowing its users to match photos to people’s social media pages on Vkontakte was reportedly abused to de-anonymize and harass Russian women who appeared in pornography and alleged sex workers.
.avif){kind=small}
The facial recognition service FindFace was utilized by users of the imageboard 'Dvach' to deanonymize and harass women working in the sex industry. Participants in the campaign matched photos of these women to their Vkontakte social media profiles and subsequently spammed the victims' friends and families with the information. The service's founder stated that they could not prevent such misuse but offered to cooperate with authorities to identify the harassers.
The facial recognition software FindFace allowing its users to match photos to people’s social media pages on Vkontakte was reportedly abused to de-anonymize and harass Russian women who appeared in pornography and alleged sex workers.
The FindFace AI system was used to correctly infer the real-world identities of anonymous individuals (pornographic actresses and subway passengers) without their consent, compromising their privacy.
The primary cause of the harm was the intentional decision and action of Dvach users to weaponize the deployed FindFace tool to dox and harass women.
High Risk: The system is a facial recognition application used for biometric identification of individuals, which has significant implications for fundamental rights and privacy, similar to high-risk AI categories like biometric identification.
Severity ratings are based on this scale.
Highest direct severity in any category: Minor. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.
Reported: The report explicitly describes the creation and spread of doxing files and harassing messages sent to the victims' families and friends.
Indirectly caused: Dvach users distributed archived copies of the victims' social media pages and sent spam messages to their social networks.
Inferred additional harm: It is likely that toxic and harassing messages reached hundreds of friends and family members of the targeted women.
Reported: The report explicitly describes a campaign targeting Russian women who appear in pornography or are registered on prostitution services.
Indirectly caused: The harassment campaign singled out and targeted women in the sex industry due to moral outrage, subjecting them to targeted doxing and harassment.
Inferred additional harm: This targeted harassment reinforces societal stigma and unequal treatment of women in the sex industry.
Reported: The report explicitly describes severe privacy violations and harassment targeting specific individuals.
Indirectly caused: The right to privacy of the targeted women was severely violated when their anonymous identities were linked to their real-world profiles without consent.
Inferred additional harm: The incident represents a broader threat to the civil right to privacy in public spaces and online anonymity.
Reported: The report explicitly describes privacy violations, noting that FindFace was used to match random photographs to people's social media pages.
Directly caused: The FindFace AI system matched photographs of individuals to their Vkontakte profiles, directly revealing their real-world identities without their consent.
Indirectly caused: Dvach users used these matches to obtain and distribute archived copies of the victims' social media pages to their families and friends.
Inferred additional harm: It is likely that thousands of other Vkontakte users had their privacy compromised or felt compelled to alter their privacy settings due to the threat of deanonymization.
Reported: The report explicitly describes a nasty effort to identify and harass Russian women, including spamming their families and friends.
Indirectly caused: The doxing and targeted harassment campaign caused significant distress, anxiety, and social humiliation to the targeted women and their families.
Inferred additional harm: It is highly likely that the targeted women suffered severe psychological distress, anxiety, and trauma due to their private lives and identities being exposed to their social circles.
The incident involved the weaponization of the FindFace facial recognition tool by online actors to deanonymize and harass Russian citizens. While causing severe privacy violations and psychological distress to targeted individuals, the incident's national security implications remain minor, representing a localized law enforcement and regulatory challenge rather than a systemic threat to state stability.