The company claims to have scraped more than 3 billion photos from the internet, including photos from popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
The firm garnered controversy in January after a New York Times investigation revealed that Clearview AI’s technology allowed law enforcement agencies to use its technology to match photos of unknown faces to people’s online images. The company also retains those photos in its database even after internet users delete them from the platforms or make their accounts private.
That prompted cease-and-desist letters from tech giants Twitter (TWTR), Google (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB). Some states, such as New Jersey, even enacted a statewide ban on law enforcement agencies using Clearview while it investigates the software.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/26/tech/clearview-ai-hack/index.html