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X may collect users' employment, education data under new privacy policy from September 29

It may also collect and use biometric information 'for safety, security, and identification purposes'

Published: Fri 1 Sep 2023, 6:54 PM

Updated: Fri 1 Sep 2023, 11:17 PM

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AFP file photo

AFP file photo

Elon Musk's X platform, formerly known as Twitter, may soon collect more personal information from its users, including employment history, educational background, and even biometrics.

This comes as part of X new 'privacy policy', which will come into effect on September 29.

The policy tells users that based “on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes.” It does not say what biometric information will be collected. Biometric data can refer to fingerprints, facial recognition and the like.

Data on employment, education, job preferences, skills, job search activities, and more, could also be gathered so X could recommend potential jobs, it adds.

Such information, it says, would be shared "with potential employers when you apply for a job, to enable employers to find potential candidates, and to show you more relevant advertising".

Biometrics and job-related data, it clarified, are among the information that users will provide "to use some of our products and services".

"Basically, certain information is necessary if you want to use many of our products and services," it said.

Musk on Thursday announced that X will soon give users the ability to make voice and video calls on the platform. However, he did not say when the features would be available to users.

He posted on the former Twitter that the site's voice and video calls will work on Apple and Android devices as well as on computers, with “No phone numbers needed.”

Rival social platforms already offer voice and video calls. Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, introduced voice and video calls on Messenger in 2015. Snapchat added them in 2016.

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X did not immediately respond to a request for more details on the new features or when they will be available.

For data privacy expert Stephen Wicker, a professor at Cornell University, X's new policy "is at least an acknowledgement that X will be doing what other social networks have already been doing in a more covert fashion".

Two years ago, Facebook agreed to a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users.

“X’s announcement is an expansion of the ongoing farming of social network users for personal data that can be used for directed advertising," Wicker said, adding that such data collection "continues to be a problem for the individuals that provide the data, while a source of wealth for those that take it.”



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