Clearview AI fined over $33m for “illegal” facial recognition database

US facial recognition firm Clearview AI has been fined €30.5 million by the Dutch data protection watchdog (DPA) for hosting an “illegal database”.

Clearview AI uses data scraping technology to harvest people’s public photographs from websites and social media platforms to create an online database of 20 billion images of faces and data.

According to the watchdog, Clearview has not objected to the DPA’s decision and would therefore be unable to appeal against the fine.

“Facial recognition is a highly intrusive technology, that you cannot simply unleash on anyone in the world,” DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement.

“If there is a photo of you on the Internet – then you can end up in the database of Clearview and be tracked. This is not a doom scenario from a scary film. Nor is it something that could only be done in China,” he added.

It also banned Dutch companies from using Clearview’s services.

The DPA ordered an imposing penalty of up to €5 million if Clearview doesn’t halt the breaches of the regulation.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Clearview’s chief legal officer, Jack Mulcaire said that the decision is “unlawful, devoid of due process and is unenforceable.”

“Clearview AI does not have a place of business in the Netherlands or the EU, it does not have any customers in the Netherlands or the EU and does not undertake any activities that would otherwise mean it is subject to the GDPR,” Mulcaire added.

Two years ago, the UK watchdog (ICO) also fined Clearview AI £7.5m for the same reason.

At the time, the ICO said that even though the firm does not offer its services to UK organisations, Clearview still had customers in other regions and found it “likely” that it could still use the personal data of UK residents given the nation’s high number of social media users.