X, Formerly Known as Twitter, May Collect Your Biometric Data and Job History
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has announced this week that it may now collect biometric and employment-related information from its users, marking an expansion of the data it may gather from account-holders.
The disclosure was made in an update to the company’s privacy policy, introducing two new sections that pertain to this data collection practice.
The revised policy states, “Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes.”
Additionally, under a new section titled “job applications,” X indicated that it may collect information concerning users’ employment history and educational background. The company further outlined its intention to gather “employment preferences, skills and abilities, job search activity and engagement, and so on.” This data would be used to suggest potential job opportunities to users, share such information with prospective third-party employers, or enhance targeted advertising.
For X Premium users, the platform will offer the option to provide a government ID and a selfie image for verification purposes. The company clarified that it may extract biometric data from both the government ID and the selfie image for verification purposes. This measure is aimed at tying user accounts to real individuals, enhancing security, and countering impersonation attempts.
“This will additionally help us tie, for those that choose, an account to a real person by processing their Government issued ID,” the company stated. “This will also help X fight impersonation attempts and make the platform more secure.”
These policy changes align with the data collection practices of many of X’s peers in the industry but represent an expansion of the types of information that Twitter, now X, is interested in collecting. These updates come as the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, seeks to transform it into an “everything app,” potentially offering financial services and features akin to the popular Chinese app WeChat.
The timing of these changes coincides with the emergence of regulatory initiatives worldwide that require social media companies to verify the ages of their users. Several age-assurance services mandate users to upload copies of their government-issued identification or selfies, which are then subject to analysis by artificial intelligence.
However, a federal judge temporarily blocked an Arkansas law on Thursday that mandated age verification for social media platforms, just hours before it was set to take effect. This decision reflects the ongoing legal challenges and debates surrounding age verification on social media platforms.
