Fact-Checking Richa Chadha’s Anti-Facial Recognition Makeup Guide

Actor Richa Chadha took to X with a makeup tutorial advising protesters on how to side-step facial recognition surveillance. She proposed techniques such as drawing extra eyes and lips, painting colorful geometric patterns, and covering eyebrows to throw off and trick biometric tracking systems.

The caption of Chadha's video stated, “Dear protesters, since you’re being filmed without your consent, try using make-up to dodge surveillance/facial recognition cameras. Here’s a tutorial. (Draw an extra eye, a pair of lips, use colour to draw camouflage on your skin, use concealer to cover brows if need be. Get creative, help others with make-up.) Be safe, stay hydrated, stay strong. Girls, carry pepper spray. BULLIES ARE ALWAYS COWARDS, don’t forget. Stay peaceful, don’t be silent, don’t be violent.”

Camouflage Dazzle

Artist Adam Harvey launched CV Dazzle in 2010, tracing how bold, Cubist-inspired makeup patterns across critical facial points could scramble facial recognition models and block biometric tracking. His concept reimagined World War I naval camouflage, where painter Norman Wilkinson disguised warships with disorienting geometric stripes to startle and disorient enemy sensors about a vessel's size, speed, and heading.

A bunch of tricks are laid out on Harvey's website. The first is to dwell on obscuring key features facial recognition technology looks out for. Harvey spotlights the bridge of the nose as a crucial area for transformation: If you have bangs or long hair, style it to hide this area. Or, create visual asymmetry by covering the entire region from brow to cheekbone of one eye. Light-reflecting rhinestones are great to add if you have them on-hand, but they're not unavoidable.

Ben-Gurion Experiment

Between 2020 and 2022, Israeli researchers at Ben-Gurion University honed and developed an adversarial makeup method that successfully blocks AI facial recognition while remaining virtually unnoticeable in person. The study was conducted using neutral color palettes to achieve a natural look and conventional makeup techniques, which means it can be technically replicated by anyone.

The researchers designated all 20 participants as individuals on a watchlist, allowing the facial recognition system to identify them as targets. The experiment was conducted in real-world conditions using two cameras positioned at different angles and under varying lighting environments. To test whether makeup could interfere with facial recognition, the team first used the YouCam Makeup application to digitally add cosmetics to facial images, focusing on facial features highlighted by a heatmap as particularly useful for identification. A professional makeup artist then recreated these digital designs on the participants using makeup that appeared natural, according to the university.

The study reported that this technique significantly struck down the system’s ability to identify the participants. When makeup was applied to the most distinctive areas of the face, the individuals were correctly recognized in just 1.2% of the video frames analysed.

However, modern AI deploys multi-view deep neural networks that analyze overall face geometry rather than simple 2D landmarks, making simple makeup tricks less reliable.

Anti-CEC Protests

Demonstrators are demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged electoral roll tampering in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive. Other celebrities have also joined the public conversation around protests over alleged electoral irregularities, with Vijay Varma, Huma Qureshi, Sonakshi Sinha and Anurag Kashyap posting their reactions on social media. Their responses shuttled from satire to statements on democratic rights and accountability.

Following aggressive crackdowns by Delhi Police on journalists, lawyers, and protesters on October 10 and 11, authorities divested Jantar Mantar of its status as a sanctioned protest venue. In response, Opposition leaders marched to the Supreme Court to demand judicial intervention into the election process and the SIR process.