Clearview AI spars with UK ICO over facial recognition as monitoring

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is mistaken in characterizing the facial recognition supplied by Clearview AI as a tool for monitoring people’s behavior, the company says in its appeal of a privacy fine. Further, the data deletion order from the ICO would force Clearview AI out of business entirely, according to court filings.

The ICO originally levied a fine of 7.5 million pounds (approximately US$10 million) against Clearview in 2022 and ordered the company to both stop collecting the personal data of UK residents and destroy all it had in its gargantuan biometrics database.

The company’s response in the Court of Appeal argues the Upper Tribunal was incorrect in its conclusion that capturing and organizing images amounts to monitoring behavior, MLex reports. Instead, UK GDPR “only captures the processing of controllers who are themselves engaged in behavioral monitoring,” the company argues.

Beyond that, Clearview’s representatives at 11KBW argue that the potential for the technology to be used maliciously in Britain does not bring the company under ICO jurisdiction.

The ICO argues that whether the facial recognition technology independently analyzes behavior is a separate question from the photo collection and organization, which amounts to monitoring. The regulator referred to company promotional materials suggesting it can provide “intelligence about human activities and behavioral trends.”

Jurisdiction has been central to the case so far, with the First-tier Tribunal finding in October of 2023 that UK GDPR does not apply to the American company. The Upper Tribunal reversed that decision a year ago.

An attorney for Clearview said that 190 of the company’s 236 clients are police, federal investigative or military bodies, and the rest are law enforcement or national security organizations. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs was revealed in September to have been using Clearview since the beginning of 2026 or earlier.

The appeals hearing will continue until Wednesday, at earliest, when Privacy International will testify.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Clearview AI  |  data protection  |  facial recognition  |  Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)  |  lawsuits  |  UK GDPR