- Big Tech was hit with $3.5B fines over three years, Surfshark found
- Many were fined for using personal data unlawfully
- Enforceability remains a key challenge
Major tech companies have already been hit by fines totalling $3.5 billion for using vast amounts of users’ personal data to train their AI models, raising hopes that the days of AI operating in a regulatory vacuum might be coming to an end.
The figures come from Surfshark, one of the best VPNs on the market, which recently analysed 10 AI-related sanctions imposed on the usual suspects — Anthropic, Meta, Google, Clearview, Apple, Amazon, and OpenAI — between 2022 and 2026.
Disturbingly, nine out of ten fines were imposed for using users’ personal data — including biometric data, copyright-protected content, facial images, and children’s voice recordings — without user consent or legal authorisation.
AI violations: which company misused our data the most?
According to Surfshark’s study, Clearview AI was the first, in 2022, to be fined a total of around $46 million for collecting facial images for its facial recognition database.
But the pace picked up in 2024, with five new separate fines imposed on Google, OpenAI, Meta, Clearview, and Amazon.
The size of the fines has also increased substantially, signalling a positive shift from regulatory warnings to severe financial consequences. In 2024, Meta was fined $1.4 billion for collecting users’ biometric data without consent, followed by Anthropic in 2025 with a record $1.5 billion for training its AI models using pirated books.
On a different note, the $250 million fine imposed on Apple in 2026 for AI misleading marketing practices might signal that current AI advertisement tactics might also soon become a thing of the past.
“This could be only the beginning,” says Dr. Luis Costa, research lead at Surfshark. “The overarching trend suggests that accountability is…
