News

US pharmaceutical company fined

The US pharmaceutical company Rite Aid has been banned for 5 years for using facial recognition technology in a way that could lead store employees to "unfairly" accuse customers of theft.

Subscribe

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made a statement regarding the facial recognition technology using artificial intelligence that Rite Aid used in hundreds of stores between 2012-2020 to prevent theft.

The statement said that the company misused facial recognition technology in a way that caused store employees to "unfairly" accuse customers of theft.

Noting that the company did not take the necessary security measures when using the technology in question, the statement said that Rite Aid was banned from using this technology for 5 years on the grounds that it "did not follow reasonable procedures and prevent harm to consumers" when using facial recognition technology in its stores.

On the other hand, in a statement on its website, Rite Aid reported that it used facial recognition technology in a "limited number of stores" and stopped using it about 3 years ago.