Ban Facial Recognition in Venues Toolkit

WHAT’S HAPPENING

The music industry is reeling at news that the owner of iconic New York City venue Madison Square Garden is using facial recognition to identify, harass, and ban people from his venues. And additional reporting about how Taylor Swift was able to opt out of the venue’s use of facial recognition, the broader public doesn’t get that level of protection. This invasive biometric surveillance isn’t safe, especially for Black and brown people who have been falsely arrested or ejected from public places due to the tech’s baked-in discrimination. 

In recent years, a coalition of musicians, fans, and human rights groups successfully got more than 40 of the world’s largest music festivals, including Bonnaroo and Coachella, to say they won’t use facial recognition at events. But now this tech is starting to spread–not only as a surveillance tool, but also as a form of ‘paperless’ ticketing and payment. 

If we’re going to keep this technology from spreading further, we need everyone who opposes it to take action, including artists, players, venue owners, fans and more!

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Use your platform to shout your opposition to facial recognition, to share information, and to direct your followers to sign the pledge against facial recognition in venues.

No AI Surveillance = Safer Spaces

Here’s some sample language you might include on your FAQ or venue information page:

Suggestions:

• 🎥 Make a video or a post talking about why you think people should take action. Use your own voice. (If you don’t usually speak directly to the camera, no big deal. You’ve got your own style!)

  • You can use our social media graphics for whatever fandom/group you are a part of: https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/venues/#share

• 💬 Share Fight for the Future’s content and tag artists, venues, and others you think should sign the pledge

  • TikTok

    • https://www.tiktok.com/@fightfortheftr/photo/7665822881804340493

    • https://www.tiktok.com/@fightfortheftr/video/7665802830409780494

  • Instagram

    • https://www.instagram.com/p/DbJcr_oGRJm

    • https://www.instagram.com/p/DbJqjDYGV-k

    • https://www.instagram.com/p/DbOP5TYnEyv

  • Bluesky

    • https://bsky.app/profile/fightforthefuture.org/post/3mrdnoi4puc2q

    • https://bsky.app/profile/evangreer.bsky.social/post/3mrgfvtona22d

• 📤 Circulate this toolkit to other creators and organizations you know. Mutuals, discord servers, all are great avenues to get more people on board.

• 📢 Put https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/venues in your link in bio and direct your audience to sign the pledge.

• 💬 Continue to share about the ways using the internet for creative expression, community organizing, and knowledge sharing has impacted your life.

Resources + Background

Articles

• https://www.wired.com/story/madison-square-garden-jim-dolan-surveillance-machine/

• https://www.wired.com/story/for-taylor-swift-madison-square-gardens-controversial-cameras-briefly-went-dark/

• https://www.ms.now/opinion/taylor-swift-and-travis-kelce-got-to-buy-msgs-privacy-her-fans-arent-so-lucky

Graphics

Contact

📧 Reach out to team@fightforthefuture.org with questions, concerns, or ideas.