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according to foreign media reports on september 5, the dutch data protection regulator fined facial recognition startup clearview ai 30.5 million euros (33.7 million u.s. dollars) on tuesday because the agency established an illegal database containing billions of facial photos.

the dutch data protection authority (dpa) has also warned dutch companies that using clearview's services is also prohibited.

new york-based clearview did not oppose the decision and therefore cannot appeal the fine, the data agency said.

but in an emailed statement to the associated press, clearview chief legal officer jack mulcaire said the decision was illegal, lacked due process and was unenforceable.

the dutch agency said creating the database without adequately informing those whose images appeared in it was a serious breach of the eu's general data protection regulation (gdpr).

"facial recognition is a highly invasive technology that you cannot simply use on anyone in the world," dpa chairman aled wolfson said in a statement.

“if your photo is on the internet — and doesn’t that apply to all of us? — then you could end up in clearview’s database and be tracked. this isn’t some doomsday scenario from a horror movie. this isn’t something that’s only possible in china,” he said.

the dpa said clearview faces up to 5.1 million euros ($5.6 million) in non-compliance penalties in addition to the fine if it does not stop violating the regulations.

mulcair said in a statement that clearview is not subject to eu data protection regulations.

he said: clearview ai has no place of business in the netherlands or the eu, does not have any customers in the netherlands or the eu, and does not carry out any activities that would mean it would be subject to the gdpr.

in june, clearview settled an illinois lawsuit alleging that its mass collection of facial images violated the privacy rights of its subjects, for a sum that lawyers estimated could exceed $50 million. in the settlement, clearview did not admit any liability.

the illinois case consolidates lawsuits filed across the u.s. against clearview, a company that scrapes photos from social media and other internet sources to create databases that it sells to businesses, individuals and government entities.