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'X' and the Controversy of Biometric Data Collection · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  Hi everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Elon Musk
• 0:03
  Podcast. Today we're about to discuss a
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  game changing shift in social media, specifically focusing on
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  the platform formerly known as Twitter, now rebranded as X, the
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  platform recently updated its privacy policy and revealed
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  plans to collect biometric data such as facial scans from its
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  premium subscription users, along with employment and
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  educational history. It's a shift that's inviting
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  both intrigue and skepticism, questioning the bounds of user
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  privacy versus technological advancement.
• 0:33
  But before we get started, let's give a shout out to our
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  in SpaceX inspired gear. Now, what's going on with X, the
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  social media platform's new privacy policy update, in a case
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  that they will be gathering facial scans and other biometric
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  data from their Premium users or X Premium.
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  And the purpose of this? They claim it's for safety,
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  security and identification. OK, so it's premium.
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  Subscribers will have the option to provide their government ID's
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  along with a selfie for an extra layer of verification.
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  And this biometric data could be extracted from both the
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  identification and the selfie to match and confirm the identity
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  of the user. And it doesn't end there though.
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  The company also has plans to capture details like employment
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  history, educational background, and other job related
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  information. They suggest it's all to help
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  recommend jobs to you and perhaps even share your
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  credentials with prospective employers.
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  And this also comes in the wake of Xcorps acquisition of tech
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  recruiting service Lasky, since there might be a larger vision
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  behind some seemingly unrelated updates now.
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  Professor Liberty, veteran of Washington University in Saint
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  Louis, pointed out that X is positioning itself to offer
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  targeted and individualized experiences to roll platforms
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  like LinkedIn. Yet she also cautioned that this
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  move could potentially be misused by employers who could
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  scrutinize your tweets, retweets, and you're following
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  list to make judgments about job eligibility.
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  Now doctor Stephanie Hair, a tech ethics researcher, framed
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  it as a substantial data grab That's consent based.
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  In her opinion, it doesn't significantly infringe upon
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  civil liberty, since participation is optional now.
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  Meanwhile, Elon Musk has also indicated plans for the platform
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  to introduce video and audio calls, proclaiming that X aims
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  to serve as an effective global address book.
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  However, no official date has been enough for the release of
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  this feature now. TikTok, on the other hand,
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  another major player in social media already collects biometric
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  date. But during a Senate hearing last
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  year, they clarify that they do not use any facial, voice or
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  audio recognition to identify individuals.
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  What should we make of this? Are we seeing a trend where
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  social media platforms are morphing into multipurpose
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  everything apps, or is this merely a complex way to a mass
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  more for targeted advertising and revenue generation?
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  Steven Wicker, a data privacy expert from Cornell University
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  who built this as an extension of existing practices.
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  Wicker, emphasized that while the data collection might be a
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  source of revenue for these companies, it raises serious
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  questions about personal data security.
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  We can't overlook that just last year, Facebook agreed to a $650
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  million settlement over a similar data collection issue.
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  Even beyond security, the collection of biometric and
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  personal data opens up ethical cans of worms.
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  While many are advocating for transparency and user consent,
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  others are that the mere active data collection by these
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  platforms could lead to unintended consequences and
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  misuse. And with the new policies to be
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  implemented on September 29th, it's essential to pay very close
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  attention to how things unfold. Will this new data collection
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  strategy push the boundaries of what we consider acceptable, or
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  will it become another fleeting experiment in the ever changing
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  world of the X Corp by Elon Musk?
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  But it hasn't been smooth sailing recently for X Corp,
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  especially after the change in branding from Twitter via
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  strategist Eric Stouffert found a significant drop in app
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  downloads post rebranding, going from an average ranking of 35 to
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  54 on Apple's App Store's top downloaded chart.
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  Sufra suggests that the shift might be causing confusion among
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  customers who are not familiar with the rebranding efforts.
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  The newer, darker, and less bird focused branding in the App
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  Store further adds to this confusion, causing potential new
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  users to miss what they're searching for now.
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  Given Elon Musk's focused on revenue growth, these declining
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  numbers might be of a concern. The business cannot expand
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  without attracting new users, and these stats suggest that
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  Xcorp has some ground to make up and the rebranding to X and the
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  added features are a double edged sword for Musk.
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  On one side, the additional services and the potential to
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  become an everything app make the platform more intriguing,
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  and on the other side, there's a real challenge in maintaining
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  user trust in attracting a new audience amid these sweeping
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  changes. Now let's touch on a little
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  legal angle as well. X, even before its
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  transformation, has been part of a class action lawsuit that
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  alleges a platform of wrongfully capturing and storing biometric
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  data without adequate user consent.
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  Given the heightened focus on data collection, these legal
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  challenges could become more prominent in the days to come.
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  All right, that's all the time we have for today.
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  I want to thank you all for tuning into the Elon Musk
• 5:51
  podcast. If you found this episode
• 5:53
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  tremendously. And we can now bring you more
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  content like this every single day.
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  And until next time, easy. Carry yourselves and each other,
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  and I'll see you in the next one.