57,718 views 26 Feb 2026
Is your local Sainsbury’s turning into a biometric panopticon? In this video, we investigate the shocking reality of live AI facial recognition technology being rolled out in UK supermarkets. What is being sold as a solution to retail crime is quickly becoming a massive social engineering experiment and data harvesting excercise. I went down to the flagship Sainsbury’s store for live facial recognition in Sydenham, South East London, to see this dystopian surveillance network for myself—and security were very quick to shut MY camera down. We dive deep into how “weaponized PR” is convincing the public to trade their privacy to save pennies, the controversial Facewatch system, and the secretive multi-million-pound “Pegasus Partnership” linking supermarkets, the government, and bespoke police intelligence units. If you think you have “nothing to hide,” think again. From geographical “respect orders” to mass biometric data logging, this AI surveillance isn’t an end point; it’s a stepping stone toward a society where your face is a barcode and your freedom to move can restricted at the click of a button.
