Keeping Societies in the Loop: Citizen Dialogues on Facial Processing Technologies in Bolivia, India, Nigeria, Japan, and Germany

Facial processing technologies (FPT) experience increased deployment around the world. This trend is driven by narratives that often promise increased security and efficiency but obscure the trade-offs that these technologies entail. Ultimately, this stands in the way of critical societal discourse. Aiming to provide spaces for societal discourse on FPT, we conducted citizen dialogue workshops with 114 participants across 23 discussion groups in Bolivia, India, Nigeria, Japan, and Germany in 2024. Participants discussed what a desirable future, in light of FPT (non-)deployment, could look like in one of three contexts: public spaces and policing, corporate surveillance, and social interactions. Participants explored possible consequences, risks, stakeholders, and measures. Using a mixed-methods approach allowed us to gain insights from workshop documentation and individual surveys. We find that, overall, the narrative of facial recognition leading to an increase in public safety and to an increase in convenience for FPT subjects and deployers was dominant despite participants acknowledging the limitations and risks of FPT. Participants from India and Germany had a more critical stance on facial recognition and facial classification technologies. Keeping society in the loop and regulation were perceived as central mechanisms to ensure responsible use. We reflect on the results through a cross-national lens and discuss them in relation to the concept of institution-based trust. We conclude that the perception of governance structures and processes, including regulation, as a magic bullet stands in the way of questioning the technology at its core.