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Contents5
  1. Consumer-impact summary
  2. Incidents
  3. Entities reported using Clearview AI (2020)
  4. See also
  5. References

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Clearview AI
Basic information
Founded 2017
Legal Structure Private
Industry
Also known as
Official website https://www.clearview.ai/

Clearview AI, Inc. is an American facial recognition company, providing software to law enforcement, government agencies, and (previously) private companies. The Artificial intelligence (AI)-software matches faces to a database of more than 20 billion images collected from the Internet, including social media applications. The company maintained a low profile until late 2019, when its usage by law enforcement was first reported.[1]

The software is purportedly as simple as taking a photo of someone in public, then searching Clearview AI's database of over 3 billion photos which retrieves social media accounts connected to that person from all across the web.[1]

Clearview AI was founded by Hoan Ton-That, Charles C. Johnson, and Richard Shwartz. Ton-That is a university dropout who began his career by creating phishing applications and computer worms and was subsequently investigated by police.[2] Shwartz is a politician who worked for New York mayors Rudy Guiliani and Ed Koch among other politicians.[citation needed] Johnson is a right-wing political activist and possible FBI informant.[3]

Consumer-impact summary

Overview of concerns that arise from the conduct towards users of the product (if applicable):

  • User Freedom
  • User Privacy
  • Business Model
  • Market Control

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Incidents

Add one-paragraph summaries of incidents below in sub-sections, which link to each incident's main article while linking to the main article and including a short summary. It is acceptable to create an incident summary before the main page for an incident has been created. To link to the page use the "Hatnote" or "Main" templates.

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This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Clearview AI category.

Entities reported using Clearview AI (2020)

In 2020, Buzzfeed News published a detailed report on the use of Clearview AI[4], one of the most notable publications that brought the facial recognition company into the public eye[citation needed]. According to the documents, the software has been used by "people in more than 2,200 law enforcement departments, government agencies, and companies across 27 countries"[4]. The following entities were listed as users of Clearview AI at some point in time, some of which have been customers of the software while others without official accounts (e.g. trial periods)[4].

Private companies

Law enforcement & government entities

  • New York Police Department (NYPD)
  • US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
  • Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
  • US Secret Service
  • Drug Enforcement Administration
  • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)
  • US Marshals
  • Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  • Toronto Police Service
  • Australian Federal Police
  • London's Metropolitan Police
  • Interpol
  • 600+ US police departments
  • At least ten fusion centers, including in Louisiana and the U.S. Virgin Islands
  • White House Tech Office

Police departments

Some police departments include (but not limited to) those located in:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Gainesville, FL
  • Broward County, FL
  • Miami, FL
  • San Mateo, CA
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Wyomissing, PA
  • Chicago, IL
  • Raleigh, NC
  • Somerset, MA
  • Indiana State Police

Additional contracts were proposed to the following cities:

  • Antioch, CA
  • Green Bay, WI
  • Davie, FL
  • Bradenton, FL

Other unspecified entities

  • College security departments
    • Florida International University
    • Columbia University
    • and others
  • Attorneys general offices
  • 50 educational institutions across 24 states, including at least two high schools
  • 46 financial institutions
  • Private investigators
  • Security firms

Foreign entities

Clearview AI has consistently maintained its position that it focuses on consumers in the US and Canada.[6] Yet, included in Buzzfeed's report are entities in the following locations outside the US and Canada:

  • Australia
  • France
  • India
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
  • Italy
  • Greece
  • Netherlands
  • United Arab Emirates (private entities as well as UAE police)
  • Qatar
  • Singapore
  • and others

Additional locations in which the company hoped to expand into include:

  • Ukraine
  • Colombia
  • Brazil
  • Nigeria

See also

Link to relevant theme articles or companies with similar incidents.

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References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mac, Ryan (23 Jan 2020). "Clearview AI Says Its Facial Recognition Software Identified A Terrorism Suspect. The Cops Say That's Not True". Buzzfeed News. Archived from the original on 6 Feb 2026.
  2. ↑ Thomas, Owen (22 Jan 2020). "The person behind a privacy nightmare has a familiar face". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 7 Jan 2026.
  3. ↑ Schwartz, Mattathias (19 Oct 2023). "Exclusive: Tech billionaire Peter Thiel was an FBI informant". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 1 Feb 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Mac, Ryan (27 Feb 2020). "Clearview's Facial Recognition App Has Been Used By The Justice Department, ICE, Macy's, Walmart, And The NBA". Buzzfeed News. Archived from the original on 6 Feb 2026.
  5. ↑ "NeoFace WideNet - Turn Your Images Into Evidence". NEC on SlideShare. Archived from the original on 23 Feb 2026.
  6. ↑ Haskins, Caroline (5 Feb 2020). "Clearview AI Wants To Sell Its Facial Recognition Software To Authoritarian Regimes Around The World". Buzzfeed News. Archived from the original on 8 Feb 2026.
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