[pesenti]

The problem is that language is ambiguous and it’s important to be accurate. I do believe that intent wise, it answers the question the way you would prefer. Let me explain.

In the case you describe, Facebook no longer creates a Face Template, that is some kind of ML model of your face that could be used to recognize it or identify that you are the same person appearing across new pictures.

But I can’t say Facebook no longer has a record of your face. It still has some pictures, uploaded by your friends, where you appear. It won’t know that it's you OR and if your friends upload two pictures where you appear, it won't know that the same person is in both unless they tag you manually (which they can only do if you are user and authorize them - but that's a different setting).

[d10]

Thanks for taking time to reply to comments here.

If I understand correctly, when facebook detects faces, it does something like...

    compare face to all Face Templates
    if match
        associate picture and face with matched user
        (maybe also update Face Template of matched user)
    else
        discard data structures created during compare
        (maybe mark face as "already compared")

If the data is truly discarded, great! I'm glad if my earlier speculation is not what happens.