Clearview AI built a massive facial recognition database by scraping 30 billion photos from Facebook and other social media platforms without users' permission, which law enforcement has accessed nearly a million times since 2017[^1].
The company markets its technology to law enforcement as a tool "to bring justice to victims," with clients including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. However, privacy advocates argue it creates a "perpetual police line-up" that includes innocent people who could face wrongful arrests from misidentification[^1].
Major social media companies like Facebook sent cease-and-desist letters to Clearview AI in 2020 for violating user privacy. Meta claims it has since invested in technology to combat unauthorized scraping[^1].
While Clearview AI recently won an appeal against a £7.5m fine from the UK's privacy watchdog, this was solely because the company only provides services to law enforcement outside the UK/EU. The ruling did not grant broad permission for data scraping activities[^5].
The risks extend beyond law enforcement use - once photos are scraped, individuals lose control over their biometric data permanently. Critics warn this could enable:
- Retroactive prosecution if laws change
- Creation of unauthorized AI training datasets
- Identity theft and digital abuse
- Commercial facial recognition systems without consent[^1]
Sources:
[^1]: Business Insider - Clearview AI scraped 30 billion images from Facebook and other social media sites
[^5]: BBC - Face search company Clearview AI overturns UK privacy fine
You mean the darkweb?