Browser extension unveils the hidden tags Facebook gives your photos

By Gannon Burgett January 4, 2017

browser extension facebook photo tags hidden shows

Every time you upload an image to Facebook, every pixel in the image is scanned using machine learning algorithms. These algorithms, in turn, predict what the subject matter of the image is and label it accordingly.

Say for example you upload a photo showing your dog and your friends playing at the beach. Facebook’s image recognition technology will likely scan the photo and apply the tags “dog,” “beach,” “sand,” and so on, even without the addition of any description on your end.

Normally, these tags are hidden from plain view, and are located inside the source code of the image link. You can find the tags if you know where to look, but it’s not exactly a quick and simple procedure.

Thankfully, a new extension for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will do the dirty work for you and unveil the hidden tags Facebook doesn’t usually let you see with a simple hover of your cursor.

Called “Show Facebook Computer Vision Tags Extension,” the official name of the extension is quite the mouthful, but it appears that’s the most difficult component of the extension.

Once installed from the Google Chrome Web Store or the Mozilla Firefox Add-ons website, the extension immediately gets to work. When browsing through images, it will automatically show an overlay on the image with the tags it was automatically given.

According to its creator, Adam Geitgey, the extension was made to inform users of exactly how much information companies are able to pull from your photographs.

Facebook isn’t alone in this either. A range of photo apps and services, including Apple Photos, Google Photos, Amazon, Flickr, and others, also use this technology.

To find out more information, head on over to the extension’s GitHub page.

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