Clearview AI scrapes 60 billion faces to end anonymous public life

Clearview AI scraped over 60 billion images from public social media, news outlets, mugshot websites and other open sources to build its facial recognition database (Topic Description).

More than 2,200 law enforcement agencies in the United States have licensed access to Clearview AI’s database (Topic Description).

On Jun. 11, 2025, Clearview AI’s new CEO HLHal Lambert announced a push to secure U.S. federal government contracts (Topic Description).

In a nationwide class-action settlement, Clearview AI agreed to pay or allocate $51.75 million for alleged biometric privacy violations (Question 2).

Independent studies and civil-rights organizations report that Clearview’s “99%+ accuracy” claim masks significantly higher error rates for women, people of color and the elderly (Question 3).

Civil-rights groups warn that ubiquitous facial recognition surveillance chills First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly by deterring protest and political participation (Question 1).

Clearview AI technology has been banned or ruled illegal in seven countries over privacy law violations (Question 7).

Civil-rights monitors report that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have deployed Clearview AI’s facial recognition tools in state surveillance programs (Question 5).

Clearview AI offers an opt-out process for individuals to request removal of their images at clearview.ai/privacy-requests, though it requires proactive individual action (Question 9).

As of early 2025, Clearview AI reported approximately $16 million in annual recurring revenue, despite remaining unprofitable (Question 10).