The Federal Trade Commission alleges OkCupid shared nearly three million user photos with Clarifai, a facial recognition firm, without proper consent or transparency.
In 2014, Clarifai’s CEO emailed an OkCupid founder requesting access to user data. Despite no formal agreement, Humor Rainbow - the company behind OkCupid - granted access. That included photos, demographics, and location data.
OkCupid claimed it had no relationship with Clarifai. But Clarifai's leadership said OkCupid founders were investors in their firm. Clarifai used the images to develop AI capable of identifying age, sex, and race.
The FTC says OkCupid made false claims about protecting user data. Under a proposed settlement, the platform is barred from misrepresenting how it shares personal information.