Challenge against Clearview AI in Europe

This legal challenge relates to complaints filed with 5 European data protection authorities against Clearview AI, Inc. ("Clearview"), a facial recognition technology company building a gigantic database of faces.

Αρχή Προστασίας Δεδομένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα (Hellenic Data Protection Authority) (Greece)

On 27 May 2021, Privacy International (PI) filed complaints against Clearview AI with the UK and French data protection authorities (ICO and CNIL). Simultaneously, similar complaints were filed by Hermes Centre for Transparency and Digital Human Rights in Italy, Homo Digitalis in Greece, and noyb - the European Center for Digital Rights in Austria.

Clearview is a facial recognition company claiming to have built "the largest known database of 3+ billion facial images". It uses an "automated image scraper" to search the web and collect any images that it detects as containing human faces. All these faces are then run through its proprietary facial software, to build a gigantic biometrics database. Clearview then sells access to this database to private companies and law enforcement authorities.

Various actions have been launched across the globe against Clearview's practices, in countries with biometrics or data protection regulation. Our European complaints are based on various "data subject access requests", as well as PI's technical and legal analyses of Clearview's practices. After various isolated complaints were filed by individuals against Clearview, and isolated enforcement actions taken by the Hamburg data protection authority and the Swedish data protection authority, the complaints seek a coordinated approach across Europe to tackle an inherently cross-border issue. The regulators have 3 months to respond after filing of the complaints.

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