X will collect user biometric data, job and school history

Updated on: 31 August 2023

Justinas Vainilavičius
Senior Journalist

X has updated its privacy policy and will require users to consent to it collecting their biometric data, as well as education and employment history.

The revised privacy policy of the social media platform previously known as Twitter will come into effect on September 29th and was updated to reflect a new kind of data it wants to collect, which includes biometrics.

“Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes,” the new policy reads without further elaborating what that means exactly.

The representative of X confirmed the new policy to Bloomberg, which first spotted the change, but did not offer additional details. Biometric information could involve data obtained from facial recognition or fingerprints.

Following the policy change, the owner of X, billionaire Elon Musk, said that video and audio calls would soon be available on the platform and no phone number will be required for that.

He said this would make X “the effective global address book” in what seems to be a push towards his vision of the platform as an “everything app.”

The use of biometrics could also be a way to weed out fake accounts and bots, which Musk promised to do but which has so far proved to be an uphill battle.

In addition to biometric data, the updated privacy policy also says that X “may collect and use” personal information including employment history, educational history, employment preferences, skills and abilities, job search activity, and engagement.

It says it will use this data “to recommend potential jobs for you, to share with potential employers when you apply for a job, to enable employers to find potential candidates, and to show you more relevant advertising.”