Dutch officials fine Clearview AI $33.7M for ‘illegal database’ of billions of faces

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) has fined American facial recognition company Clearview AI $33.7 million for amassing what it calls an “illegal database” of billions of facial images, including those of Dutch citizens. Dutch officials said Clearview AI violated laws banning the unauthorized collection and processing of personal data without consent. The fine marks the tech company’s largest privacy fine in Europe to date.

Authorities say Clearview AI’s database contains more than 30 billion facial images, collected indiscriminately from across the globe without geographical limitations or authorization.

The watchdog agency said Clearview AI does not sufficiently provide people with knowledge about how the company uses their photo or biometric data, which raises serious privacy concerns, including the processing of minors’ personal data.

Clearview AI’s practice of scraping the internet for selfies to populate its searchable database has drawn sharp criticism and legal challenges across Europe.

Clearview AI maintains that it is not subject to Europe’s data protection regulations because the company has no place of business or customers in the EU.

Despite accumulating approximately more than $110 million in EU privacy fines in various countries, Clearview AI has not complied, continuing to operate without appointing a legal representative in the EU or altering its data collection practices.

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