X announces the latest updates to its privacy policy

Since being purchased by Elon Musk, X, formerly Twitter, has announced an array of changes to its policies, including a new subscription service that offers a “verified” badge for a monthly fee.  and a limit on the number of tweets users can look at. 

Now, the tech giant has announced that it will start collecting biometric data on its users, which could include employment and educational history and a photograph of their face. 

Anyone signed up for the paid subscription service, X Premium, can currently choose to provide a selfie along with their photo ID, which is used for verification purposes. 

There are rumours that the company could use this information to offer additional services, including recruitment features that would recommend potential jobs and share information with potential employers when users complete a job application. 

This would give a more tailored experience for the user, and could even start to rival LinkedIn and other career-focused platforms. 

The new privacy policies will be effective from the end of the month. The update says: “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.”

However, this is something users should be aware of when deciding whether to use the platform, as there is potential for information to be misused. Although it’s not compulsory, many users could be unaware of how much data is being collected and how it could affect them.

According to X: “X will give the option to provide their government ID, combined with a selfie, to add a verification layer. Biometric data may be extracted from both the government ID and the selfie image for matching purposes. This will additionally help us tie, for those who choose, an account to a real person by processing their government-issued ID. This will also help X fight impersonation attempts and make the platform more secure.”