Google, Facebook hit Clearview AI with lawsuit over facial recognition app

Clearview AI

A class-action lawsuit has been filed this week against controversial start-up Clearview AI

In a report published by New York Times, ‘The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It’, Clearview AI is believed to have devised a “groundbreaking facial recognition app”, whose database of over three billion images scraped from social networks like Facebook and Youtube “goes far beyond anything ever constructed by the United States government of Silicon Valley giants.”

The New York-based start-up, founded by the secretive, one-time model and serial app developer Hoan Ton-That, claims that it can reveal the name, location and other identifiers of a person based on a single image. Perhaps even more troubling is its potential for integration with AR. The New York Times reported that it found underlying code which would effectively enable the app to pair with augmented reality glasses, meaning that “users would potentially be able to identify every person they saw.”


READ MORE: How Does Facial Recognition Software Work?


Facial recognition software has the ability to open the privacy flood-gates. This has previously been seen as a barrier standing in the way of many companies developing such tools. Those with the ability to do so have in the past set stringent privacy measures, or refrained altogether, for ethical reasons or perhaps for fear of contributing to the widespread erosion of privacy. But not Hoan Ton-That.

According to the company, more than 600 law enforcement agencies have used Clearview. The company has declined to provide a list of those agencies, but it is believed that local police forces all the way up to the Department of Homeland Security are using it to solve cases ranging in severity from shoplifting to murder.

The New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill had numerous law enforcement agents run his photograph through the Clearview app, and soon after those same agents received calls from a Clearview representative asking if they were talking to the media. In Hill’s words, this demonstrated that the company “has the ability and, in this case, the appetite to monitor whom law enforcement is searching for.”


Hoan Ton-That defends Clearview AI in a CBS This Morning interview

According to the lawsuit, Clearview’s technology effectively leads to a “massive surveillance state with files on almost every citizen, despite the presumption of innocence.” The complaint also alludes to the comments of one of Clearview’s early backers, David Scalzo, who had admitted that its technology may be laying the groundwork for a “dystopian future.”

The complaint continues: “Clearview’s technology poses a grave threat to civil liberties. Constitutional limits on the ability of the police to demand identification without reasonable suspicion, for instance, mean little if officers can determine with certainty a person’s identity, social connections, and all sorts of other personal details based on the visibility of his face alone.”

Luke Conrad

Technology & Marketing Enthusiast

Birmingham Unveils the UK’s Best Emerging HealthTech Advances

Kosta Mavroulakis • 03rd April 2025

The National HealthTech Series hosted its latest event in Birmingham this month, showcasing innovative startups driving advanced health technology, including AI-assisted diagnostics, wearable devices and revolutionary educational tools for healthcare professionals. Health stakeholders drawn from the NHS, universities, industry and front-line patient care met with new and emerging businesses to define the future trajectory of...

Why DEIB is Imperative to Tech’s Future

Hadas Almog from AppsFlyer • 17th March 2025

We’ve been seeing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives being cut time and time again throughout the tech industry. DEIB dedicated roles have been eliminated, employee resource groups have lost funding, and initiatives once considered crucial have been deprioritised in favour of “more immediate business needs.” The justification for these cuts is often the...

The need to eradicate platform dependence

Sue Azari • 10th March 2025

The advertising industry is undergoing a seismic shift. Connected TV (CTV), Retail Media Networks (RMNs), and omnichannel strategies are rapidly redefining how brands engage with consumers. As digital privacy regulations evolve and platform dynamics shift, advertisers must recognise a fundamental truth. You cannot build a sustainable business on borrowed ground. The recent uncertainty surrounding TikTok...

The need to clean data for effective insight

David Sheldrake • 05th March 2025

There is more data today than ever before. In fact, the total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally has now reached an incredible 149 zettabytes. The growth of the big mountain is not expected to slow down, either, with it expected to reach almost 400 zettabytes within the next three years. Whilst...

What can be done to democratize VDI?

Dennis Damen • 05th March 2025

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) offers businesses enhanced security, scalability, and compliance, yet it remains a niche technology. One of the biggest barriers to widespread adoption is a severe talent gap. Many IT professionals lack hands-on VDI experience, as their careers begin with physical machines and increasingly shift toward cloud-based services. This shortage has created a...

Tech and Business Outlook: US Confident, European Sentiment Mixed

Viva Technology • 11th February 2025

The VivaTech Confidence Barometer, now in its second edition, reveals strong confidence among tech executives regarding the impact of emerging technologies on business competitiveness, particularly AI, which is expected to have the most significant impact in the near future. Surveying tech leaders from Europe and North America, 81% recognize their companies as competitive internationally, with...