X (Twitter) to Collect Biometric Data from Premium Users to Combat Impersonation

X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, has updated its privacy policy to collect users’ biometric data to tackle fraud and impersonation on the platform.

“Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes,” the company said. The revised policy is expected to go into effect on September 29, 2023.

The social media behemoth told Bloomberg, which first reported the development, that the change is limited to premium users and that a biometric matching process “will also help X fight impersonation attempts and make the platform more secure.”

To that end, users will be given the option to provide government ID and a picture for identity matching or verification using biometric data, the company told the publication. However, there is currently no clarity on how it plans to collect it and for how long such information will be retained in its systems.

The policy update is also expected to include a caveat for collecting users’ employment and educational history to surface potential job recommendations, share that information with prospective employers, and serve tailored ads.

The change comes days after X unveiled new hiring features that allow Verified organizations to feature job listings in their profiles.

Earlier this May, X began rolling out support for encrypted direct messages (DMs) on the service. The company’s chief executive Elon Musk has also said that users will be able to make video and audio calls through the platform without having to share their phone number.

That’s not all. The company has further outlined in its upcoming privacy policy it “may use the information we collect and publicly available information to help train our machine learning or artificial intelligence models.”

Musk has since confirmed the change, stating it covers “just public data, not DMs or anything private.”

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