Software giant Microsoft says it will no longer make minority investments in companies that sell controversial facial recognition technology and, as a result, it is divesting from Israeli facial recognition start-up, AnyVision.
In a joint statement, Microsoft’s Venture Fund and AnyVision say after careful consideration, Microsoft and AnyVision have agreed it is in the best interest of both enterprises for Microsoft to divest its shareholding in AnyVision.
According to Reuters, the decision marks a policy change for the Redmond, Washington-based software maker, which has aimed to shape how the technology industry approaches facial recognition.
It says Microsoft has laid out principles to guide its own development of the technology, saying it should perform without bias and must not impinge on democratic freedoms.
International media reports that Microsoft was earlier criticised for participating in a $74 million funding round for AnyVision, which critics said contradicted the company’s principles.
The start-up came under intense scrutiny following reports that its technology was used to surveil Palestinians who lived in the occupied West Bank.
Microsoft later hired former US attorney general Eric Holder and a team from international law firm Covington & Burling to investigate the claims.
On Friday, the investigation team said: “Following a thorough review, Covington has concluded its audit. Based on the evidence reviewed, Covington confirmed that AnyVision technology is used in border crossing check points between Israel and the West Bank, as acknowledged by AnyVision in response to media inquiries and confirmed to Microsoft.”
It added: “The available evidence, however, demonstrates that AnyVision’s technology has not previously and does not currently power a mass surveillance programme in the West Bank that has been alleged in the media reports. As such, Covington could not substantiate a breach of the Microsoft Global Finance portfolio company pledge on facial recognition."
Despite the clearance, Microsoft said “the audit process reinforced the challenges of being a minority investor in a company that sells sensitive technology, since such investments do not generally allow for the level of oversight or control that Microsoft exercises over the use of its own technology”.
It added: “By making a global change to its investment policies to end minority investments in companies that sell facial recognition technology, Microsoft’s focus has shifted to commercial relationships that afford Microsoft greater oversight and control over the use of sensitive technologies.”
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