The Hague, Netherlands — The Dutch data protection watchdog on Tuesday fined facial recognition startup Clearview AI 30.5 million euros ($33.7 million) for creating an “illegal database” of billions of facial photos.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) has also warned Dutch companies that it will also ban them from using Clearview’s services.
The data agency said New York-based Clearview “has not contested the decision and therefore cannot appeal the fine.”
But Clearview’s chief legal officer, Jack Mulcahy, said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that the decision was “unlawful, lacks due process and is unenforceable.”
Dutch authorities said setting up the database and failing to adequately inform people whose images were included on it amounted to a serious breach of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
“Facial recognition technology is highly intrusive and should not be readily available to everyone around the world,” DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement.
“If your picture is on the internet, doesn’t that apply to all of us? You could be in the Clearview database and be tracked. This is not a tragic scenario in a horror movie, nor is it something that only happens in China,” he said.
The DPA said Clearview faces fines of up to 5.1 million euros ($5.6 million) in addition to fines if it does not stop violating regulations.
In a statement, Mulcahy said Clearview is not subject to EU data protection regulations.
“Clearview AI has no establishments in the Netherlands or the EU, has no customers in the Netherlands or the EU and does not conduct activities that are subject to the GDPR,” he said.
In June, Clearview settled a lawsuit in Illinois that alleged its massive collection of mugshots violated the privacy rights of people photographed in the photos. Lawyers estimate the settlement could be worth more than $50 million. The settlement agreement did not admit any liability to Clearview.
The Illinois lawsuit joins lawsuits filed across the country against Clearview, a company that compiled databases of photos from social media and other places on the internet and sold them to businesses, individuals and government agencies.
