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Smile-to-Pay: Chinese Shoppers Turn to Facial Payment Technology


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 A woman uses a facial recognition device installed at an IFuree Go self-service supermarket in Tianjin, China.

Chinas shoppers can make a purchase simply by posing in front of point-of-sale machines equipped with cameras, after linking an image of their face to a digital payment system or bank account.

Credit: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images

China is embracing facial payment technology, which allows consumers to purchase goods simply by posing in front of point-of-sale (POS) machines equipped with cameras after linking an image of their face to a digital payment system or bank account.

Similar facial recognition software is already widely used by the government to monitor citizens, although authorities have been criticized for using it to crack down on dissent.

Despite concerns over data security and privacy, many consumers seem unfazed by facial payment technology.

Alipay—the financial arm of Alibaba—already has facial payment devices in place in 100 Chinese cities.
 

Abstracts Copyright © 2019 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA

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