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SHANGHAI: Chinese tech giant Alibaba has tried to distance itself from a facial recognition software feature devised by its cloud computing unit that could help users identify members of the country’s Uighur Muslim minority.
A report this week revealing the software function made Alibaba, one of the world’s most valuable companies, the latest Chinese corporate entity to be embroiled in controversy over China’s treatment of Uyghurs.
In a statement posted online late on Thursday (December 17), Alibaba said it was “dismayed to learn” that Alibaba Cloud developed the feature.
The technology was used for capacity testing only and was not implemented by any customers, Alibaba said, adding that it had “removed any ethnic labels” on its products.
“We do not and will not allow our technology to be used to target or identify specific ethnic groups,” he said.
The Uighur problem looms as a worrying threat to Chinese businesses as global criticism of Beijing’s policies in the northwest Xinjiang region mounts.
READ: ICC rejects complaint of genocide by Uighurs against China
Human rights groups say that up to a million Uighurs and other minorities, mostly Muslim, have been held in internment camps there.
Beijing initially denied the camps existed, but now calls them vocational training centers aimed at offering alternatives to religious extremism.
LEE: ‘Something close’ to the genocide in China’s Xinjiang, says the US security adviser
China’s Uyghurs, a Muslim people of Turkish origin, have for decades been angered by Chinese control, an anger that has periodically erupted into deadly violence.
Surveillance spending in Xinjiang has risen sharply in recent years, with facial recognition and other technologies deployed throughout the province.
Washington last year blacklisted eight Chinese tech companies for alleged links to the surveillance effort.
Last week, the US-based surveillance research firm IPVM said that Chinese telecoms company Huawei had been involved in testing facial recognition software that could send alerts to police when Uighur faces were recognized.
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Huawei denied the claim.
But the controversy caused French soccer star Antoine Griezmann, winner of the Barcelona World Cup, to break a sponsorship deal with Huawei.
Alibaba is the leader in China’s huge e-commerce sector, projecting a joyous image to the world as personified by globetrotter founder and former billionaire president Jack Ma.
It has also moved into cloud computing, traditional retail and delivery services, as well as overseas expansion.
The Trump administration has imposed a growing series of US sanctions against Huawei for alleged digital collusion with Chinese state security and has hinted at applying pressure on other companies, possibly including Alibaba.
