Amazon extends moratorium on police use of facial recognition software

FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen at an Amazon facility in Bethpage on Long Island in New York, U.S., March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

(Reuters) -Amazon.com Inc said on Tuesday it is extending until further notice a moratorium it imposed last year on police use of its facial recognition software.

The company had halted the practice for one year starting in June 2020. Its announcement came at the height of protests across the United States against police brutality toward people of color, sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minnesota.