Among those 12 labels was one for “Friend.” A security researcher on Twitter also discovered the same label in an independent review of the code. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who sought to understand why the startup had provided its software to organizations outside of law enforcement and to entities in countries with histories of human rights violations, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Ĭlearview - which is facing multiple lawsuits from concerned citizens and potential legal action from tech giants including Facebook and Google for scraping their images - has maintained in media interviews that “it’s strictly for law enforcement.” But company data viewed by BuzzFeed News appeared to contradict that statement.Ī BuzzFeed News review of the publicly available code for Clearview’s web app found that the company had created a list of “company type” designations - including “Government,” “Bank,” and “Investor” - for entities that had access to its tool. That was followed by a separate note to Clearview from Sen. Last week, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology sent a letter signed by each party’s ranking member to Ton-That asking how his company determined who gets access to its products. The widespread, unregulated use of Clearview’s technology has concerned both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Therefore, we cannot comment.” Got a tip? Email one of the reporters of this story at or or contact us here. Ton-That declined to answer a series of detailed questions, saying: “Once again, BuzzFeed’s information is flawed, some of it provided via illegal means. Some of those entities have connections to the far right and the Trump administration, as do Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That, a MAGA-supporting mobile app developer, and cofounder Richard Schwartz, who was once an adviser to former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. “Accordingly, the Clearview app has built-in safeguards to ensure these trained professionals only use it for its intended purpose: to help identify the perpetrators and victims of crimes.”Ĭlearview, however, has shared its technology with organizations it designated as friends, conservative think tanks, Republican lawmakers, and more than 20 potential investors around the world, according to company documents seen by BuzzFeed News. “Clearview AI’s search engine is available only for law enforcement agencies and select security professionals to use as an investigative tool, and its results contain only public information,” the company wrote in a Jan. Prior to BuzzFeed News’ report, Clearview insisted its tool was strictly for law enforcement. Last month, a BuzzFeed News investigation found that people at more than 2,200 organizations have tried Clearview’s facial recognition technology, including federal entities such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, and private companies like Macy’s, the NBA, and Bank of America.

(Following the publication of this story, Johnson denied accusations of Holocaust denial.)Īfter reading coverage about a new facial recognition tool, James deduced that Johnson had identified him using Clearview AI, a secretive company that’s claimed to have scraped more than 3 billion photos from social media and the web. Johnson did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Johnson, a controversial right-wing activist and accused Holocaust denier with ties to the Trump administration. It was from the bearded man on the plane - Charles C.

Later that evening, James received a friend request. But the mysterious app had found him on his brother’s Instagram account within seconds. Some of his social media accounts had been set to private, and he had been careful not to post too many photos of himself to the web. James was dumbfounded to see himself in so many photos on a stranger’s phone.

The app, which flashed a banner reminding its users not to talk to journalists, populated with a handful of pictures from James’ brother’s Instagram account.

He opened an app, snapped a photo of James, and then showed him the phone. But before James could agree or even give his full name, his fellow passenger pulled out his phone and asked to show him something. Later, as the plane taxied to its gate at Boston Logan International Airport, the man suggested the two connect on social media. “Do you go to school in the area?” the red-bearded man asked James, whose name has been changed to shield his identity, amid other small talk about technology and science. On a flight to Boston in January, James, a young academic, caught the attention of an aisle mate.

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