Taylor Swift 'used facial recognition at concert to make sure fans were not stalkers'

Taylor Swift concert goers had their pictures taken and ran through facial recognition software to make sure they were not one of the popstar’s stalkers, according to reports.

The Shake It Off singer has been bombarded with threats in the past and security teams are said to have taken the step to keep obsessed fans away.

According to Mike Downing, chief security officer of Oak View Group which advises venues on safety, a hidden camera was placed inside a kiosk at a May 18 performance.

This was showing rehearsal clips, which people would watch, and he said: “Everybody who went by would stop and stare at it, and the software would start working.”

He told Rolling Stone he knew this because he had attended the Rose Bowl event in California and the system was demonstrated to him by its manufacturers.

Ms Swift is known to have a number of stalkers, with a restraining order in place against one while others have been arrested after appearing outside her home.

After pictures were gathered they were reportedly sent to a command post in Nashville, Tenessee, to be matched against a database of suspected harassers.

There has been controversy over such technology being used before, but Ticketmaster has previously been reported to be considering scanning concert goers faces rather than them using tickets.

The Standard has contacted Ms Swift’s representatives for comment.