Asda reveals the real reason they show your face with self-checkout cameras (2024)

IF you're wondering why Asda has cameras on its self-checkouts the supermarket has explained all.

Earlier this year a video on Facebook went viral falsely claiming the supermarket secretly uses facial recognition technology to gather customer data for targeted advertising.

In it, a lady complains about new self-checkouts being installed at her local Asda.

Each are fitted with cameras and a screen that show people their face as they scan through their products.

Tesco and Sainsbury's use similar technology too.

“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," she says.

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'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.

"And under GDPR, unless you’ve given permission, they cannot do it."

However, Asda has previously explained to Full Fact that this is completely wrong.

The camera and screens are there purely to deter thieves from stealing.

And they don't actually store any video footage that appears on them either.

The only kit that does record footage is traditional CCTV scattered around the store.

"We have no technology in our stores that could take an image, store it, and then compare it to other images to spot when a ‘recognised’ face comes into our store," a shop rep told Full Fact.

"The cameras use AI to focus on faces—you might see a green box around the face—but again this footage isn’t recorded or stored."

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