This week, Facebook announced that it will be removing all Spark AR-made filters associated with plastic surgery from the Instagram Effect Gallery.
The decision to remove the filters comes after Facebook found itself in hot water for filters like “Fix Me,” “Beautiful Face,” and “Plastics”, which are among the many that mimick the look of plastic surgery by altering the user’s face with effects like heightening eyebrows, slimming faces, and filling lips. Some filters even add surgical marks to the user’s face.
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Facebook announced back in August that it would be opening the formerly invite-only Spark AR platform to the public, meaning that anyone would be able to create filters for Instagram and Facebook. Those policies will be changed again to further vet which of those filters make it to the Instagram Effects Gallery.
In an email to the Daily Dot, a Facebook spokesperson said that the removal is a temporary solution while the company decides how it will treat plastic surgery-associated filters going forward. For the time being, Facebook is planning on removing these types of effects and preventing similar ones from getting approved.
“We want Spark AR effects to be a positive experience and are re-evaluating our existing policies as they relate to well-being,” Facebook’s Space AR said in a post on Friday.
Though the change is aimed towards improving users’ well being, many commented on the post to voice their disapproval of the change.
“Wow guys might as well delete every Instagram account that face tune/ edit their photos as well,” user Monica Manavy wrote. “This is so unnecessary!”
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