Facebook has started asking European and Canadian users to let it use facial recognition technology to identify them in photos and videos.

Facebook originally began face-matching users outside Canada in 2011, but stopped doing so for EU citizens the following year after protests from regulators and privacy campaigners.

The new request is one of several opt-in permissions being rolled out in advance of a new data privacy law.

The move is likely to be controversial.

The company is currently embroiled in a privacy scandal related to the use of its members' personal information by the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Click HERE to read more on Facebook's Security measures .