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X, formerly Twitter, to collect biometric and employment data

01 September 2023 18:09 (UTC +04:00)

X, formerly known as Twitter, will collect biometric data on its users, such as a photograph of their face, in an update to its privacy policy, APA reports citing BBC.

People signed up to its subscription service, X Premium, can choose to provide a selfie and photo ID for verification. The policy also states X may collect employment and educational history. This would be to "recommend potential jobs for you, to share with potential employers when you apply for a job".

The new privacy policy will come into force 29 September.

Liberty Vittert, professor of the practice of data science at Washington University in St Louis, said the move is in line with X's attempt to establish "more targeted and individual experiences for users" and rival platforms such as LinkedIn.

But she said the shift was one users "should absolutely be wary of", warning it could be misused by employers in ways such as using tweets, retweets or accounts followed to make decisions about a job.

Elon Musk has an ambition to turn X into an "everything app", a one-stop-shop for various only services, as part of that the addition of extra features, and extra updates to the privacy policy to enable them, may well continue.