OkCupid gave 3 million dating-app photos to facial recognition firm, FTC says

Ars Technica • March 31, 2026 • business

Key Points:

OkCupid and its owner Match Group settled with the FTC over sharing nearly 3 million user photos and location data with Clarifai, a facial recognition company, without user consent, violating their privacy policy.
The 2014 incident involved no financial penalty for OkCupid or Match, but they agreed to a permanent ban on misrepresenting their data collection, use, and sharing practices.
The FTC accused OkCupid of concealing the data-sharing and misleading users and the media, despite providing Clarifai unrestricted access to user photos and other personal data.
Clarifai used OkCupid images to develop facial recognition technology capable of identifying age, sex, and race, and has sold this technology to government and private-sector clients.
The settlement requires judicial approval and underscores the FTC’s commitment to enforcing privacy promises, even without financial penalties, emphasizing transparency in data practices.

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