Russia uses facial recognition technology from US companies to spy on anti-war protestors, says report

• Court records show Moscow's surveillance network played a role in the arrests of protesters, says Reuters.
• US facial recognition technology is aiding the tracking of protestors in Russia, said Reuters.

A new report from Reuters that examined 2,000 court cases found that US facial recognition technology has aided in the crackdown on anti-war protestors in Russia.

Released earlier this week, Reuters reviewed Moscow court records that showed how the city's vast video surveillance network played an "important role" in the arrests of hundreds of protesters.

As of 2017, there were 160,000 cameras across the city, and more than 3,000 of them are connected to facial recognition systems, according to Moscow's Department of Information Technologies.

According to the court records, many of those detained due to the cameras were during anti-government protests in 2021. But after the country invaded Ukraine last year, the cameras are still used to prevent anti-war protests, and to identify and detain opponent's of Putin's regime, Reuters found.

In one case, the city's metro facial recognition system flagged a man who held a sign that said "Peace to Ukraine," "No War" and "Freedom for Russia" last May.

After he was detained by police, he was asked about his views on the Ukraine war and on Russia President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported.

Three Russian companies and one Belarusian are using chips designed by US companies Intel and Nvidia to train their systems' algorithms, Reuters reported. The news outlet also found that the Russian and Belarusian companies took part in a US facial-recognition test program, and one of the companies was given $40,000 in prize money from "an arm of US intelligence."

While there is "no suggestion that Nvidia or Intel have breached sanctions," Western technology has assisted in the crackdown on protests. Nvidia and Intel said they halted shipments to Russia after trade restrictions tightened, per Reuters.

Insider has previously reported that dozens of US companies were in a leaked database of users for Russia-based NTech Lab, and on the ways in which both Russia and Ukraine have used facial recognition technology in the wake of the war.