Clearview AI’s facial recognition software is illegal, loudly proclaims the National Commission for Computing and Freedoms. The Cnil pronounced this Thursday a sanction of 20 million euros against the American company Clearview AI. The regulator orders Clearview AI to stop collecting and using data “without legal basis” from people in France and to delete those already collected.
At the heart of its operation, Clearview Ai sucks up photographs from websites and social networks. It collects, so to speak, all of the online photographs that can be consulted without the need to log into an account. The company was able to appropriate 20 billion images around the world via this method.
The company then markets access to its image database. The result appears in the form of a search engine, where each individual can be searched for using a photograph via facial recognition. This service is of particular interest to law enforcement to identify victims or perpetrators of offences.
Illegal use of user data
The Cnil explains that it has received complaints from individuals since 2020 about Clearview AI’s facial recognition software. During its investigation, the French regulator cooperated with its European counterparts to collect information, since the American company is not based in Europe.
At the end of its investigation, the CNIL found that the processing of personal data was carried out without a legal basis and that the system, as a whole, did not systematically take into account the “rights of the persons” concerned.
The Cnil first decided to give Clearview AI formal notice to cease the collection and use of data from people on French territory. However, given the inaction of the principal concerned, the CNIL decided to impose a financial penalty. This sanction of 20 million euros, a “maximum” amount in view of “the very significant risks for the fundamental rights of the persons concerned which result from the processing implemented by the company” underlines the press release from the CNIL.
According to the Cnil, Clearview AI does not have a “legitimate interest in collecting and using this data, in particular with regard to the particularly intrusive and massive nature of the process which makes it possible to recover the images present on the Internet of millions of Internet users in France ” .
The commission also fined the American company 100,000 euros per day of delay beyond the two-month period.