CNN
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X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, said this week it may collect biometric and employment information from its users — expanding the range of personal information that account-holders may be exposing to the site.
The disclosures came in an update to the company’s privacy policy, which added two sections related to the new data collection practice.
“Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes,” the policy read.
In addition, under a new section labeled “job applications,” X said it may collect users’ employment and educational history.
The company also said it could collect “employment preferences, skills and abilities, job search activity and engagement, and so on” in order to suggest potential job openings to users, to share that information with prospective third-party employers or to further target users with advertising.
For X Premium users, the company will give an option to provide a government ID and a selfie image for verification purposes. The company may extract biometric data from both the government ID and the selfie image for matching purposes, the company told CNN in a statement.
“This will additionally helps us tie, for those that choose, an account to a real person by processing their Government issued ID,” according to the company. “This will also help X fight impersonation attempts and make the platform more secure.”
The changes mirror what many of X’s peers already routinely collect. But it represents an expansion of the types of information Twitter is interested in tracking. The policy adjustment arrives as owner Elon Musk seeks to turn the platform into an “everything app” that could include financial services and other features similar to the popular Chinese app WeChat.
The change also happens as some regulatory initiatives around the world begin to require that social media companies verify their users’ ages. Many age-assurance services require that users upload copies of their government-issued identification or selfies that are then analyzed by artificial intelligence.
On Thursday, however, a federal judge temporarily blocked an Arkansas law mandating age verification for social media platforms, just hours before it was due to take effect.
