Explainer · card E05 · 60 seconds
01 / 08 · Setup
YOUR FACE ON IG.
public · because you chose so
02 / 08 · Tension
JUST ? 30 BLN DATABASE.
Clearview AI · Hoan Ton-That
03 / 08 · Reveal
CLEARVIEW AI
founded 2017 · scraping Facebook · IG · LinkedIn · VK · Twitter
04 / 08 · Mechanism
officer → CCTV photo → match → link to IG
US Police
3,400 agencies · clients
30 bln face photo database
scraped from the internet
ICE · FBI · local police · commercial clients
05 / 08 · Scale
30 BLN FACE PHOTOS. 3,400 POLICE AGENCIES.
30 bln
face photos in database
3,400
US police agencies
AI Act
retroactive ban
06 / 08 · Exposé
JANUARY 2020
Kashmir Hill
New York Times
2023 book
"Your Face Belongs to Us"
CNIL · ICO
European investigations
Facebook · Twitter · Google banned scraping — Clearview ignores
07 / 08 · Penalties
~90 MLN €
UK 7.5 mln £ + France 20 mln + Italy 20 + Greece 20 + Netherlands 30 mln €
AI Act 2024: ban on retroactive biometric ID in public space. Clearview still operates commercially, outside the EU.
08 / 08
CLEARVIEW
You can't switch off your face. Regulators have to. Clearview — proved it can be done.
Card E05 in Big Tech Files.