ByteDance’s CapCut Allegedly Collected Biometrics, Now Faces Class-Action Lawsuit from Illinois

ByteDance finds itself in deep waters again about an alleged data collection of users' biometrics, but this time, it is with its app called CapCut that is now under investigation. The company is facing a class-action lawsuit from the state of Illinois regarding this issue, claiming that it is taking in the data from its 200 million+ subscribers without consent.

The TikTok owner is known for facing massive scrutiny over the years regarding data collection and espionage via the app, with ByteDance being the center of controversy yet again.

ByteDance, CapCut Allegedly Collects Biometric Data from Users

ByteDance and CapCut are both facing a massive complaint from Illinois, and this is because of their alleged collection of biometric data without consent. According to Engadget, the video-editing app is using these said personal data for their ad targeting program in the app that collects user information for tailoring the ads.

Alongside the complaint is CapCut's collection of personal information like age, birth date, location, gender, and photos and videos. Moreover, it was revealed that the app has the capability to also harvest other user information like MAC address and their SIM card serial number.

Moreover, as per the lawsuit, the app's privacy policy was designed to be hard to understand and give the app "meaningful, express consent."

Class-Action Lawsuit from Illinois versus ByteDance

The Illinois class-action lawsuit versus ByteDance allegedly violates the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) of the state which prohibits collecting face scans and voiceprints without the user's consent.

That being said, users who came forward with the lawsuit claim that they have been using CapCut for years, one being in the seventh grade before, and was able to use it without an account or parental consent.

ByteDance, TikTok Data Collection Issues

Earlier this year, TikTok already faced the wrath of the US government and its officials regarding the platform's alleged data collection issues, where lawmakers are pushing for its country-wide ban. However, the company has plans to give to avert this with the so-called "Project Texas," one that deletes US user data from its servers.

ByteDance and TikTok previously faced scrutiny in the United States as well, particularly in 2020 under former President Donald Trump's reign.

However, TikTok and ByteDance did not only receive these complaints from the US, as in the United Kingdom, it was made to settle $15.9 million over its breach of data protection laws in the country.

Despite the massive watchful eye on TikTok, a sister company of it is also caught in a new controversy about data collection, and this time for biometrics from CapCut users. For now, the proceedings will take place and review all the facts presented by both sides, to know if it really violated Illinois' BIPA in its operations in the country.