Clearview AI agrees to permanent ban on selling facial recognition to private companies

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Under a court settlement, most private companies will not be allowed to use the facial recognition service from Clearview. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the company in 2020, accusing it of building its business on facial recognition data taken without user consent. The agreement shields the company from further suits under the BIPA.

As part of the settlement, Clearview agreed to a permanent nationwide injunction prohibiting it from selling or giving away access to a vast database of face photographs, many of which were originally taken from social networks like Facebook. Government employees who aren't acting on behalf of their employers are barred from dealing with the company. It can deal with any Illinois state or local government agency for five years. It must maintain an opt-out program for residents who want to block searches using their face or prevent collection of their photographs if it wants to remove photographs of Illinois residents.

Federal agencies and local police departments can still work with Clearview if they are outside of Illinois.

The settlement shows that strong privacy laws can provide real protections against abuse. Other companies would be wise to take note, and other states should follow the lead of Illinois.

Illinois is one of the few states to have a law that protects the privacy of people using facial recognition tools. A class action suit was brought against Meta last year.

In 2020, Clearview said it would stop working with private companies, and at one point included Bank of America, Macy's, and Walmart. The company has focused on working with thousands of local law enforcement departments and federal agencies like the Justice Department, which have controversially used it for both general-purpose police work and unusual events like the January 6th, 2021 Capitol riot.

Under the agreement, these contracts are still allowed outside of Illinois, although Clearview will no longer offer free trial access to individual police officers. Some state and local governments have restrictions on the use of facial recognition databases.