X to Start Collecting Users’ Biometric, Employment Data
Elon Musk’s X will start collecting biometric data and info on users employment, according to an update to its privacy policy set to take effect on Sept. 29 in what appears to be another step toward his creation of a multipurpose app that expands beyond messaging.
The social-media platform started informing its roughly 354 million users of the updated policy on Thursday, which added new sections labeled “Biometric Information” and “Job Applications/Recommendations.”
“Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes,” the first new entry states.
It’s not clear exactly how the information might be used by the social media platform that Musk bought in October for $44 billion.
Musk changed the name to “X” from Twitter in July as part of his vision to remake the site into an “everything app,” that moves past messaging toward allowing purchases, banking and more — “a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” as CEO Linda Yaccarino has described it.
Biometrics would be one way to try to ensure security for financial transactions.
CNBC reported that Twitter in April partnered with eToro, a social trading company, to allow users to access stocks, cryptocurrencies and other financial assets. EToro recently said it is looking to expand the arrangement.
The outlet also reported that X has been obtaining money transmitter licenses in a number of U.S. states as it moves toward launching its own payment features. Musk’s original “X.com,” an online bank formed in 1999, was bought and combined with another company, Confinity, to create PayPal in 2000.
In the privacy policy’s second new entry, it states: “We may collect and use your personal information (such as your employment history, educational history, employment preferences, skills and abilities, job search activity and engagement, and so on) 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.”
X does not yet have a jobs feature, though many of its users post open positions and otherwise recruit on the platform. Bloomberg reported that the company’s first purchase under Musk was job recruitment tool Laskie. He paid an undisclosed sum for the tech talent recruiting service in May.
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