Google demands startup Clearview AI stop scraping photos
Google LLC-owned YouTube Wednesday said it has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Clearview AI, telling the startup that it can no longer scrape videos from its platform.
Clearview AI came under scrutiny this year after reports that it had been scraping videos of people on social media platforms and then adding faces to its database. Its facial recognition technology can use an image of a person and then find more links where that face has appeared.
The company has claimed that ii has more than 3 billion images in that database, images that were scraped from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other websites. Clearview’s technology has so far been used by local police departments in the U.S. as well as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
