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From Tuesday, 2 September 2025, Sainsbury’s has begun an eight-week trial of facial recognition technology in two of its UK stores. The company says that the move is in response to rising retail crime, including theft, violence and abuse against staff.
The technology, provided by Facewatch, is designed to identify people who have previously engaged in violent, aggressive or criminal behaviour in stores by scanning faces via CCTV and comparing them against a watchlist compiled by Facewatch.
The trial has been met with significant criticism from privacy groups, with Big Brother Watch describing the move as “Orwellian” and “deeply disproportionate,” citing risks of false accusations and the creation of secret watchlists without due process.
Related:
- Sainsbury’s rolls out facial recognition tech to curb in-store theft, Retail Gazette, 2 September 2025
- Big Brother Watch responds to Sainsbury’s trial of live facial recognition in stores, Big Brother Watch, 2 September 2025
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The following is a slightly edited version of a Twitter thread posted by Big Brother Watch on 2 September 2025.
Sainsbury’s has just announced that it will be trialling Orwellian live facial recognition in select UK shops:
- Sydenham, SE London
- Oldfield Park, Bath
With plans for nationwide rollout.
For one of the UK’s largest supermarkets to trial this intrusive tech is deeply disproportionate and chilling.
“Facial recognition surveillance turns shoppers into suspects, with devastating consequences for people’s lives when it inevitably makes mistakes. Sainsburys Facewatch are adding customers to secret watchlists with no due process, meaning people are being falsely accused, grossly mistreated and blacklisted from shops, despite being entirely innocent.
“Sainsbury’s should abandon this trial and the government must urgently step in to prevent the unchecked spread of this invasive technology,” Madeleine Stone, senior advocacy officer at the privacy group Big Brother Watch, said.
Read more: Sainsbury’s tests facial recognition technology in effort to tackle shoplifting, The Guardian, 2 September 2025
Innocent people are being blacklisted by shops using this technology including:
- A teenager in Manchester who was misidentified and told she was banned from shops using this tech nationwide
- A woman in Greater Manchester who was falsely accused of stealing toilet roll
- A Sports Direct shopper in Rotherham who was falsely accused of being a fraudster
We are regularly hearing from and supporting distressed people who have been caught up in a confusing net of privatised surveillance, despite being entirely innocent.
Facial recognition reverses the presumption of innocence – the foundation of our democracy and freedom.
We’re backing a legal challenge to #StopFacialRecognition in the UK. If you would like to support the legal challenge, you can donate HERE.
[Note from The Exposé: We suggest that people avoid using shops that use facial recognition. Not least of all because your money is funding it. There is no sane reason to buy goods from shops that will use the profits they make from you to implement these Orwellian schemes.]
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Categories: Breaking News, UK News
So has Waitrose Winchester. I happened to look up on way out and saw it. Nobody asked us and I didn’t see any notice (although I didn’t look for one).
Is it true that we can demand a copy of our visit and they cannot refuse?
The ‘Mark of the Beast’ has almost arrived.
I saw shop-lifting incident 25 years ago; none since though I now spend more time in shops. I believe my eyes, not Press story pushing digital ID.
I’m frequently on receiving end of abuse from retail staff, Sainsbury’s are worst. Last week cashier stole £10 note from me that was all I had for 7 days’ food.
Retailers’ first assumption guilty smashes to smithereens foundation stone of whole of English Law, not just one Law, all of them.
Distribution-centre staff steal from warehouses and HGV drivers delivering to shops steal from HGVs for black-market; vast quantities stolen before it gets to shop-floor where customers can access it.
Big Brother Watch website names some retailers etc using facial recognition. It’s not just privacy theft, it’s ID theft and steals freedom by pushing shoppers out of shops to on-line controllers. Boycotts needed on-line as well as in shops.