Privacy Groups Challenge Clearview AI’s Facial Image Collection in Five Countries

A coalition including noyb, Privacy International, Hermes Center and Homo Digitalis filed complaints against Clearview AI in May 2021 with data protection regulators in France, Austria, Italy, Greece and the United Kingdom. The complaints challenged the company’s collection of facial images and associated metadata from online sources for a facial recognition database that Clearview claimed contained more than three billion images. The coalition alleged that indefinite retention and access offered to law enforcement agencies and private companies violated European data protection requirements and enabled intrusive mass surveillance. Regulators were expected to provide an initial response within three months; the supplied material does not establish the complaints’ outcomes.

Separately, an April 2026 notice associated with Privacy International’s Clearview campaign page said the organization’s website was unavailable while it addressed a critical PHP vulnerability. Visitors were directed to its PeerTube media service during the disruption. The notice did not identify the vulnerability, provide a restoration timeline, or report exploitation or a data breach. No connection was established between the website disruption and the legal complaints against Clearview.