ore and more privacy watchdogs around the world are standing up to Clearview AI, a U.S. company that has collected billions of photos from the internet without people’s permission.
Those photos underpin the company’s facial recognition algorithm. They are used as training data, or a way of teaching Clearview’s systems what human faces look like and how to detect similarities or distinguish between them. The company says its tool can identify a person in a photo with a high degree of accuracy. It is one of the most accurate facial recognition tools on the market, according to, and has been used by U.S.
But Clearview has faced other intense criticism, too. Advocates for responsible uses of AI say that facial recognition technology often disproportionately misidentifies people of color, making it more likely that law enforcement agencies using the database could arrest the wrong person. And privacy advocates
It wasn’t the first time Clearview has been reprimanded by regulators. In February, Italy’s data protection agency fined the company 20 million euros and ordered the company to delete data on Italian residents. Similar orders have been filed by other E.U. data protection agencies, including in France. The French and Italian agencies did not respond to questions about whether the company has complied.
Clearview did not respond to questions about whether it intends to pay, or contest, the $9.4 million fine from the U.K. privacy watchdog. But its lawyers have said they do not believe the U.K.’s rules apply to them. “The decision to impose any fine is incorrect as a matter of law,” Clearview’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, said in a statement provided to TIME by the company. “Clearview AI is not subject to the ICO’s jurisdiction, and Clearview AI does no business in the U.K. at this time.
Hartzog says that facial recognition tools add new layers of surveillance to people’s lives without their consent. It is possible to imagine the technology enabling a future where a stalker could instantly find the name or address of a person on the street, or where the state can surveil people’s movements in real time.
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