Clarifai Deletes 3 Million OkCupid Photos Following FTC Settlement

Clarifai deleted 3 million user photos obtained from OkCupid in 2014 and destroyed AI models trained on that data following an FTC settlement. OkCupid provided user-uploaded photos along with demographic and location data to Clarifai after OkCupid executives invested in the AI company, violating OkCupid's own privacy policies. Clarifai used the images to build facial recognition tools estimating age, sex, and race. The FTC investigation began in 2019 after a New York Times article exposed the data sharing, and the agency alleged Match Group and OkCupid deliberately concealed the behavior and obstructed the investigation. While OkCupid and Match Group settled without admitting wrongdoing and face permanent prohibitions on misrepresenting data practices, the FTC cannot impose fines for first-time offenses of this type.

Unauthorized data sharing between OkCupid and Clarifai

• ▪Clarifai used images from OkCupid to build an AI tool that could estimate someone's age, sex, and race based on their face
• ▪OkCupid's own privacy policies should have prohibited OkCupid's sharing of user data with Clarifai
• ▪Clarifai deleted 3 million photos that Clarifai obtained from OkCupid to train Clarifai's facial recognition AI
• ▪Matthew Zeiler wrote to Maxwell Krohn that OkCupid must have a huge amount of awesome data
• ▪Clarifai deleted any models that were trained using the OkCupid photo data
• ▪Clarifai asked OkCupid to share data in 2014
• ▪Matthew Zeiler is the founder and CEO of Clarifai

FTC investigation and settlement terms

• ▪The FTC is not able to fine companies for this type of first-time offense
• ▪OkCupid and Match Group did not admit to allegations that OkCupid and Match Group deceived users by violating OkCupid's own privacy policies
• ▪The FTC opened an investigation into Clarifai and OkCupid in 2019
• ▪The FTC alleged that since 2014, Match Group and OkCupid deliberately concealed their data sharing behavior and attempted to obstruct the FTC's investigation
• ▪OkCupid and Match Group are permanently prohibited from misrepresenting or assisting others in misrepresenting the nature of their data collection and sharing
• ▪A New York Times article about Clarifai mentioned that Clarifai had used images from OkCupid to build an AI tool

Timeline and delayed regulatory response

• ▪The FTC did not open an investigation into the OkCupid-Clarifai data sharing until 2019, five years after the 2014 data sharing occurred
• ▪A New York Times article about Clarifai in 2019 triggered the FTC investigation
• ▪The data sharing incident between OkCupid and Clarifai took place 12 years ago from the time of the article

Perspective of Federal Trade Commission

• ▪Match Group and OkCupid attempted to obstruct the FTC's investigation into the Clarifai data sharing
• ▪Match Group and OkCupid deliberately concealed their data sharing behavior with Clarifai since 2014

Perspective of OkCupid and Match Group

• ▪OkCupid executives' financial investment in Clarifai created a conflict of interest when sharing user data in 2014

Perspective of Privacy advocates

• ▪The five-year delay between OkCupid's 2014 data sharing with Clarifai and the FTC's 2019 investigation demonstrates inadequate regulatory oversight