The very controversial American company Clearview AI has just been fined 20 million euros in Greece. A sanction which should not be the last for the company in Europe.
Is there a country where Clearview will not be subject to any calls to order? The American company specializing in facial recognition is the subject of multiple procedures, or at least warnings, around the world. A new sanction fell in Greece, where Clearview AI was fined 20 million euros by the local policeman of personal data. Like everywhere else, Clearview is accused of using the personal data of millions of Greek Internet users without their consent, in order to feed the huge database dedicated to the controversial company’s facial recognition.
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The Hellenic DPA fines Clearview AI with a 20 million euro fine!!! The fruits of a complaint submitted by Homo Digitalis in May 2021, with the collaboration of @privacyint, @HermesCenter and @NOYBeu! #dataprotection@ReclaimYourFace
Read https://t.co/PcIQcNJ4pe— Homo Digitalis (@Homo_Digitalis_) July 13, 2022
Last May, Clearview AI was fined 8.8 million euros in the UK for siphoning the portraits of UK users from the internet. He will also have to delete them from his huge database. Clearview was also sanctioned in Italy. In France, the Cnil gave the company formal notice in December 2021, asking it to cease all collection and use of data from French people to feed its facial recognition software. The French data policeman had given the company two months to comply. Asked recently about the consequences of the case by Digitalthe CNIL did not respond to our request for comment.
Despite its setbacks with European data managers, Clearview has no plans to cease operations. Last February, we learned that the company was working behind the scenes and trying to attract new investors to build an unprecedented database of 100 billion photos, used by its facial recognition tool.