Asda has firmly denied claims made by a shopper that it uses facial recognition technology at its self-checkouts to to gather customer data for targeted advertising. The denial comes after a video shared on Facebook by a regular customer discussing the issue went viral.
The video was viewed over 360,000 times on Facebook and in it, the woman complains about the new self-checkouts being installed at her local Asda. She shared her "viewpoint" on the fixed cameras, which shows people themselves as they scan their products through.
According to The Sun, the woman said: "What they’re basically happening, and this is my viewpoint, you’ve got a picture of your face, your debit card information and everything you’ve bought. Now, this is for as far as I’m concerned, targeted advertising…But I’ve never given anybody permission to take my data in that way."
