- Starting September 29, X, formerly Twitter, will begin collecting biometric data and other personal information under an updated privacy policy. CBS (LR: 2 CP: 5)
- The Elon Musk-owned company’s new policy says this data will be collected for “safety, security and identification purposes.” Bloomberg (LR: 3 CP: 5)
- Although it doesn’t provide the platform’s definition of biometrics, other social media companies have translated that term to mean data acquired from a person’s face, eyes, and fingerprints. Bloomberg (LR: 3 CP: 5)
- The biometric collection is for premium users, who will be able to provide X with their government ID and an image to add another layer of verification. TechCrunch (LR: 3 CP: 3)
- X’s policy doesn’t specify how or where the data will be used, but it says “employment history, educational history, employment preferences, skills and abilities, job search activity, and engagement” will also be collected. Independent (LR: 2 CP: 3)
- Collecting this data could be related to X’s recent announcement of a new feature, X Hiring, which would allow verified companies to include job ads on their profiles. Independent (LR: 2 CP: 3)
Narrative A:
- Collecting this type of data isn’t unusual in the social media realm because it's the best way to verify identity and give users an easier and better experience. Musk vowed to eliminate bots and make the platform more secure, and this is a great step down that path.
New York Post (LR: 5 CP: 5)
Narrative B:
- Musk’s ongoing destruction of Twitter is marching on during his attempt to turn it into an “everything app” like China’s WeChat. Although it’s not unusual for social media platforms to collect this sort of data, everyone should be wary of giving it to a company with such a fraught history of workplace malfeasance, especially without knowing everything X will be collecting and sharing.
Gizmodo
Nerd narrative:
- There’s a 98% chance that Musk will remain the owner of X on Jan. 1, 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Metaculus (LR: 3 CP: 3)