Wikipedia (en)
Clearview AI is an American facial recognition company, providing software to companies, law enforcement, universities, and individuals. The company's algorithm matches faces to a database of more than 20 billion images indexed from the Internet, including social media applications. Founded by Hoan Ton-That and Richard Schwartz, the company maintained a low profile until late 2019, when its usage by law enforcement was reported on. Multiple reports identified Clearview's association with far-right personas dating back to 2016, when the company claimed to sever ties with two employees.In January 2020, Twitter sent a cease and desist letter and requested the deletion of all collected data. This was followed by similar actions by YouTube (via Google) and Facebook in February. Clearview sells access to its database to law enforcement agencies and has 3,100 active users including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security according to The Wall Street Journal. However, contrary to Clearview's claims that its service is sold only to law enforcement, a data breach in early 2020 revealed that numerous commercial organizations were on Clearview's customer list. A spokesperson for the company claimed its valuation to be more than $100 million. In 2021, Time magazine named Clearview AI as one of the 100 most influential companies of the year.
In March 2022 Clearview AI was fined $20M by the Italian Privacy Regulator ("Garante della privacy") in violation of the GDPR and has been required to delete all Italian records from its database. Similar fines and deletion orders followed in Australia, France, and the United Kingdom. In May 2022 Clearview agreed to settle a 2020 lawsuit in the United States from the American Civil Liberties Union, which prohibited the sale of its facial recognition database to private individuals and businesses. Clearview paid $250,000 in legal fees and agreed to limit its 20 billion facial photo database to government agencies.
