Dutch watchdog fines Clearview AI $33.7M for illegally gathering facial recognition data

Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The Netherlands' digital watchdog said on Tuesday it issued a $33.7 million fine against U.S.-based Clearview AI for illegally gathering facial recognition data.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority charged that Clearview AI , which specializes in facial recognition, has built "an illegal database with billions of photos of faces" of residents in the Netherlands and other countries.

The authority said the use of Clearview AI, which offers its services in intelligence and investigative services, is illegal in the country.

"Clearview scrapes these photos automatically from the Internet and then converts them into a unique biometric code per face without these people knowing this and without them having given consent for this," the Dutch DPA said in a statement.

The authority said that customers of Clearview can provide camera images to find out the identity of people shown in the images. It suggests that the company has a database with more than 30 billion photos of people.

"Facial recognition is a highly intrusive technology that you cannot simply unleash on anyone in the world," Dutch DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said. "If there is a photo of you on the Internet -- and doesn't that apply to all of us -- then you can end up in the database of Clearview and be tracked.

th watchdog said that Clearview says that it provides services to intelligence and investigative services outside of the European Union only.

"That is bad enough as it is," said Wolfen. "This really shouldn't go any further. We have to draw a very clear line at incorrect use of this sort of technology."

In 2022, Clearview AI had agreed to limit the sale of its facial database to government agencies in the United States after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the company in Illinois state court.

Britain also fined Clearview AI $9.3 million at the time, stating its collection of