UK watchdog fines facial recognition firm £7.5m over image collection
The UK’s data watchdog has fined a facial recognition company £7.5m for collecting images of people from social media platforms and the web to add to a global database.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) also ordered US-based Clearview AI to delete the data of UK residents from its systems. Clearview AI has collected more than 20bn images of people’s faces from Facebook, other social media companies and from scouring the web.
The ICO, which conducted the investigation in tandem with its Australian counterpart, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, had announced a “provisional” intention to fine Clearview AI £17m last November. Though the ICO had reduced the fine after taking into consideration a number of factors including representations from the company. The £7.5m final sum is the third largest ever imposed by the ICO.
