The social media company that was formerly known as Twitter, X, is now looking to collect its users' personal data including their biometrics and employment history as part of its upcoming video and audio calling feature on the platform. While the thought of X featuring a dedicated communication feature available on its devices is good, sacrificing one's data to build it is eerie.
Its newly updated privacy policy has detailed what it needs to collect from users for the upcoming features, citing its reasons as to why it is doing so.
X to Collect Your Biometric, Employment Data, and MORE
The new privacy policy of X was updated on its website, and it was discovered that there are massive declarations by the social media company on what data it needs from users moving forward. In its explanations, X claimed that it would need users' biometric data, employment history, educational background, skills, abilities, job search activity, engagements, and more.
X said that it may collect the different aspects of a user's data from the categories above, and this is a significant collection by the company, with some claims being more personal than expected.
The company explained that they will collect this for "safety, security, and identification purposes," with the company also explaining that it will share one's profile with employers when applying for a job.
X is Doing this for its Video and Audio Calling Feature
According to Ars Technica, apart from X's explanation of why they need these kinds of data, there is also a plan from Elon Musk to bring new features to social media, mainly the video and audio calling feature.
However, it was not directly addressed by the new privacy policy if these new sets of data would be intended for that feature. Moreover, X did not clarify which type of biometric and employment data they will collect from users once it does so.
X and the Controversies of Musk's Social Media
Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, a lot has changed on the platform, and most importantly, the bluebird brand which it has carried since it was established was recently replaced with the minimalist "X" branding. However, that is not the only controversy on X now, as many are denouncing the app, even environmentalists have been slowly dropping out from the platform.
Apart from X seeing a name change and centering on the subscriptions that its owner introduced immediately as he stepped in as its CEO, many have looked into alternatives for many reasons. One of these reasons was because of safety and privacy, with researchers getting concerned with how X collects data and what it asks from users.
Big Tech has been criticized for how much data it harvests from users daily, something which regulators and other concerned bodies have already addressed against these companies. While Elon Musk wanted X to be a different kind of social media, it still requires collecting data from users, and this recent privacy policy update is a horror for those who are conscious of the data they want collected by the likes of social media.
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