Clearview AI to sell 23% stake in settlement following alleged scraping

Clearview AI, a New York-based facial recognition startup, has decided to settle a lawsuit it was involved in for scraping several people's photos from the Internet without their consent or knowledge. The company offered the plaintiffs a collective 23% stake, as reported by the New York Times on June 13, 2024.

What is the lawsuit against Clearview AI about?

The lawsuit against Clearview AI stems from a 2020 New York Times article that reported that the company used its facial recognition technology to find images of people across the internet, including social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as links to where their photos appeared. , which they then shared with law enforcement agencies, from local police to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Clearview has provided facial data to numerous private and government entities, including police forces in 27 countries, including the United States, India and Saudi Arabia. This led several citizens to file lawsuits against the company, ultimately consolidated into a single class action in Illinois, in which attorneys representing the plaintiffs filed a settlement order in June 2024, unopposed by the defendant Clearview.

Details of the proposed settlement

The proposed settlement, reached by attorneys representing both sides, involves providing the entire class, including everyone whose data was scraped – effectively a large number of US citizens – a collective 23% stake. in the company, for an amount of approximately $52 million. . If the company goes public or is acquired, the class could claim a percentage of the proceeds, or alternatively opt for 17% of the company's revenue after a two-year period.

Previous legal allegations Clearview has faced

Previously, Clearview AI was involved in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in May 2024, for capturing more than three billion facial prints of Illinois residents without their knowledge, which the ACLU said , was a violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act of 2008. which requires companies to obtain written permission from subjects before collecting their biometric data.

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