The Dutch privacy watchdog AP has fined controversial American tech firm Clearview AI €30.5 million for building up an illegal database that includes millions of photographs of Dutch nationals.

In addition, the Dutch watchdog is investigating whether the owners can be held personally liable for the privacy offences, the AP said on Tuesday.

Clearview’s database includes some 30 billion photographs of people which it has scraped from websites and which can be used to identify people. The company used to have commercial customers but now only has clients who carry out criminal or national security investigations, following a 2020 settlement in a case brought by US civil liberties campaigners.

“Facial recognition is a highly intrusive technology, that you cannot simply unleash on anyone in the world,” said AP chairman Aleid Wolfsen.“If there is a photo of you on the Internet – and doesn’t that apply to all of us? – then you can end up in the Clearview database and be tracked. This is not a doom scenario from a scary film.”

Wolfsen acknowledged the importance of techniques such as facial recognition in crime investigations and matters of national security in exceptional circumstances “but certainly not be managed by a commercial business”. The Dutch police database, he said, operates under very strict conditions and is regulated by the AP, among other bodies.

The AP said Clearview had not made any legal objection to the fine and therefore has no right of appeal.

The agency admits it does not expect Clearview to pay the fine either. “And that would be unacceptable,” a spokesman told news channel NOS. “A company should not be able to get away with infringing on the rights of Dutch people and other Europeans without penalty.”

France earlier issued a €20 million fine to Clearview but it has not yet been paid. In Britain, the company managed to overturn a fine worth some €8 million in court.