X, formerly known as Twitter, wants to start collecting “biometric information” about its users, as well as their employment history.
Elon Musk’s company is apparently giving itself permission for fingerprints or facial features, or other information about people’s bodies that are commonly used in biometrics. That’s according to a change to its privacy policy that was first reported by Bloomberg.
“Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for security, safety and identification purposes,” the new rules state. They will come into effect at the end of the month.
The policy also allows X to collect “your employment history, education history, employment preferences, skills and abilities, job search activity and engagement.”
The policy does not give any details on where the information will be used and the company has not elaborated elsewhere. But it has requested the use of biometric data for some features.
Earlier this month, for example, security researcher Nima Owji revealed that the site was testing a way for users of the premium Twitter Blue service to verify who they are by using a government-issued ID and taking a selfie. A screenshot of the feature showed that users are asked to click a button to confirm that they “consent for X to share images of my ID, including biometric data” with authentication companies.
Elon Musk has also suggested that X could be used for employment in the future, which may be the purpose of collecting employment information. Last week, X announced a new feature called “X Hiring” that allows companies that pay for the verified badge to include job ads in their profiles.
This appears to be part of his plan to turn X into the “everything app.” It has hinted that it may include payments in the future and will soon release audio and video calls that will be made with a user’s name rather than their phone number.
