Your photo may soon be much more public.

Clearview AI is granted a federal patent for its facial recognition technology. The company says it’s the first patent covering a “face search engine” that scours the internet for matches. Some experts are concerned about the software.

“People who share photos of themselves, their friends, their children, etc. on social media platforms often don't realize that those companies' privacy policies allow them to share photos and identifying information with companies like Clearview and others,” James Hendler, a professor of computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and chair of the Association for Computing Machinery's Technology Policy Council, told Lifewire in an email interview.

“For example,” Hendler continued, “someone who uses a site like TikTok or Twitter to share a video of themselves doing something might not realize that both their name and face are being shared, or when group photos are tagged, they might be sharing information about other people who might not want to be identified.”