RHODA WILSON
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
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.
People are being blacklisted from shops using facial recognition. Source: Big Brother Watch.
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.]
This article (Sainsbury’s is trialling Orwellian live facial recognition in select UK shops) was created and published by The Expose and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Rhoda Wilson
See Related Article Below
Tesco introduces new ‘Heathrow level’ security scanners to deter shoppers from stealing – but viewers brand the scheme ‘prison like’
ALANAH KHOSLA, FEMAIL REPORTER
Tesco has rolled out new ‘Heathrow level’ security scanners to try and combat the scourge of shoplifters – in a measure some have branded ‘dystopian’ and ‘prison-like’.
Britain has been in the grip of a nationwide shoplifting epidemic, with gangs of brazen thieves ransacking stores on a daily basis.
In a bid to combat the skyrocketing rate of criminality, Tesco is testing the futuristic ‘Scan As You Shop’ pay points, which retail chiefs hope will finally help them get a grip of the crisis.
Tesco’s store in Slough has become the latest to test the kit. While some were delighted with the technologically-advanced new system, others lashed out.
Some branded it ‘creepy’ and likened it to airport security gates, while others thought the move was a step ‘too far’ from traditional, staffed tills, and claimed it was part of a drive to erode civil liberties in the UK.
‘The UK is slowly turning into one big corporate prison system,’ raged one person of the technology’s rollout in Slough. Another agreed, adding: ‘UK turning into a prison.’
A video, shared by Ana Lazarus on TikTok, revealed the imposing security system in action in Slough as part Tesco’s small-scale trail of the payment hubs.
Taking to social media, Ana wrote: ‘Slough Tesco showing their avant-garde edge with Heathrow level security checkout.’
Tesco has rolled out the Scan As You Shop (SAYS) system in a select number of stores across the UK.
…
The test comes as retailers nationwide continue to battle record levels of shoplifting, which has seen brazen gangs of thieves ransacking stores up and down the country.
Not everyone is against the new security measures, with one person saying: ‘I don’t get why some people are complaining; you should only be complaining if you’re a thief.’
The Mail: continue reading
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Sainsbury’s Heaton is using this scanning device but are denying it. managers smirk tell it all. Boycott