Clearview AI

Immigration and Customs Enforcement began a contract worth up to $9.2 million with Clearview AI for facial recognition on Sept. 5, days before launching its ‘Midway Blitz’ enforcement operation in the Chicago area. Illinois law enforcement agencies are barred from using Clearview because of a BIPA settlement, but the ban does not apply to federal agencies. The contract is the largest among nearly $10 million in federal contracts with Clearview, which also include deals with the FBI, U.S. Marshals, Army, and Customs and Border Protection. No federal law governs the technology’s use.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto’s office agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by Randal Quran Reid, who was jailed for six days in 2022 after a facial recognition match wrongly identified him. The payout was approved at a May 13 hearing in federal court in New Orleans and sealed. Reid’s arrest stemmed from a warrant that relied on a Clearview AI match that JPSO detectives failed to verify. JPSO rescinded the warrants after Reid’s attorney pointed out physical differences. The settlement does not include an admission of fault.

In May 2025, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a federal civil rights suit by Randal Reid, with the payment finalized in federal court in New Orleans. Reid was stopped by DeKalb County police outside Atlanta the day after Thanksgiving 2022 on warrants from Jefferson and East Baton Rouge parishes accusing him of using stolen credit cards to buy about $15,000 in designer purses. He had never been to Louisiana and spent six days in jail before the warrants were withdrawn. According to the suit, the sole basis for identifying him was a Clearview AI facial-recognition match run by a sheriff’s detective; the office had awarded Clearview a $25,000 contract in 2019. The arrest affidavit did not mention facial recognition, citing only ‘a credible source.’ The suit alleged the office had no formal policy or training on the technology despite using it since at least 2019.

On March 20, 2025 U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman in the Northern District of Illinois granted final approval to a nationwide class settlement of consolidated Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act and other state-law claims against Clearview AI, which built a database of tens of billions of face images scraped from social media and other websites. Rather than a cash fund, the class receives a 23 percent equity stake in the company, valued at about $51.75 million on an agreed $225 million company valuation as of January 2024, with an option to take 17 percent of revenue through September 2027 instead. The value is contingent on the class being able to monetize the stake. The deal followed the ACLU’s separate 2022 Illinois consent order barring Clearview from selling its database to private entities nationwide and to any Illinois entity, including police, for five years. European regulators have separately fined the company, including a €30.5 million Dutch penalty announced September 3, 2024.

The American Civil Liberties Union and partners sued Clearview AI in Cook County on May 28, 2020, alleging the facial recognition firm violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The suit aims to protect survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Chicago police confirmed the same day that the department no longer uses Clearview’s software. CPD spokesman Howard Ludwig said Clearview terminated the $49,875 contract on May 1 and issued a prorated refund. The department’s contract with another facial recognition firm remains intact.

The Raleigh Police Department halted its use of Clearview AI facial recognition software, six months after paying $2,500 for a one-year subscription. The department said it stopped after Clearview failed to respond satisfactorily to questions. The department’s policy restricts facial recognition to public-domain images, but Clearview scrapes social media. The ACLU said the software raises privacy concerns and disputed its accuracy claims. The department said it is reviewing its policies and does not intend to resume use.