China Mandates Facial Scans for All New Mobile Phone Accounts
China now requires all citizens to undergo facial recognition scans before purchasing new SIM cards. The controversial policy links faces directly to national IDs to combat fraud but sparks significant privacy concerns.
China officially implements a new policy that requires all consumers to submit to facial scans before purchasing mobile SIM cards. While buyers previously needed to show identification cards and have their photos taken, they now must complete an additional facial scan directly through a telecom carrier to receive a phone number. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology states that this measure protects citizens by cracking down on fraud and the resale of illegal phone numbers.
This mandate represents the largest public effort to explicitly tie scanned faces to national identification cards across China's massive network of over 1.5 billion active phone users. The country already leads the world in deploying facial recognition for everyday tasks like taking out the trash, paying for goods, and passing airport security. However, this deepening integration of biometric data into daily life continues to overshadow the privacy concerns that slow down similar technologies in other parts of the world.
The new requirement draws significant pushback both internationally and domestically despite its stated goals. The United States blacklists major Chinese facial recognition companies like Megvii and Sensetime over their role in surveilling minority populations, while protesters in Hong Kong actively destroy facial recognition cameras. Even within mainland China, subtle resistance is emerging, as demonstrated by a recent civil lawsuit filed by a law professor against a wildlife park for forcing visitors to submit facial scans for entry.