Clearview AI used Americans’ faces. Now they may get a stake in the company.

Hoan Ton-That, chief executive of Clearview AI, tests the facial recognition application in New York. Clearview AI, a facial recognition startup accused of invasion of privacy in a class-action lawsuit, has agreed to a settlement, with a twist: Rather than cash payments, it would give a 23% stake in the company to Americans whose faces are in its database. — The New York Times

A facial recognition startup, accused of invasion of privacy in a class-action lawsuit, has agreed to a settlement, with a twist: Rather than cash payments, it would give a 23% stake in the company to Americans whose faces are in its database.

Clearview AI, which is based in New York, scraped billions of photos from the Web and social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram to build a facial recognition app used by thousands of police departments, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.