TikTok as a part of its updated privacy policies which it introduced on June 2, 2021 has added another clause which states that the company from now onwards may store the biometric information from users. The new clause was added under the subheading of “Image and Audio Information.”
TikTok was when questioned as to what developments in the application has made the platform come to a decision of collecting such information was met by a no solid explanation.
The first point of this newly introduced section states that TikTok will gather the data about the images, audio or surroundings that is used in a user’s content and though it may sound creepy that such a huge platform is keeping tabs on where you are, objects and sceneries around you, other platforms like Facebook have been doing this similar thing for years.
This object and location recognition helps applications to improvise targeted advertisements and other features etc. which helps them in better revenue and identify sceneries and locations helps with better Augmented Reality effects while spoken text to speech features help in automated caption.
However, the storing of biometric data is the most concerning part among this new policy.
The statement by the tech giant informs user that the biometric identifiers or information like face or voice prints may be collected under the US laws in some cases and users consent will be prioritized.
However the statement seems in complete because firstly the tech giant failed to tell the public as to what factors are leading them to collect such information while what they mean by face and voice prints was also not mentioned. It also did not mention which law will they be following, the federal law, the state’s law or both of them and how are they planning on asking users.
The US law part of the statement seems disturbing because there are only a few states in the United States that have privacy laws related to biometrics and while it is assuring that the users will be asked before collecting information in those states, what about those users who live in states without any laws of the said problem?
When a member of the team was asked to comment on this, he failed to response.
This new law is emerging at a time when TikTok is under hot waters itself in the United States and is trying to regain back the trust of the users there after a ban was implemented on the application by Trump claiming that it was a byproduct of a Chinese organization and may be a threat to them.
TikTok assured them that their US user data is stored in the US and Singapore office only and never has and never will be stored in China.
However, TikTok already has plenty of data that it collects from users so what was the thing that drove them to collect biometrics as well.
From what we believe is that TikTok has already been filed a case with a lawsuit of 92 million as settlement as a violation of social media law by a Illinoi privacy rules related to biometrics and other 20 cases separately were issued against the platform for collecting the data and hence TikTok immediately launched a new rule in which they mentioned that biometrics could be collected under certain circumstances in order to avoid any more law suits.
Read next: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp: These Were the Most Downloaded Apps for May 2021
TikTok was when questioned as to what developments in the application has made the platform come to a decision of collecting such information was met by a no solid explanation.
The first point of this newly introduced section states that TikTok will gather the data about the images, audio or surroundings that is used in a user’s content and though it may sound creepy that such a huge platform is keeping tabs on where you are, objects and sceneries around you, other platforms like Facebook have been doing this similar thing for years.
This object and location recognition helps applications to improvise targeted advertisements and other features etc. which helps them in better revenue and identify sceneries and locations helps with better Augmented Reality effects while spoken text to speech features help in automated caption.
However, the storing of biometric data is the most concerning part among this new policy.
The statement by the tech giant informs user that the biometric identifiers or information like face or voice prints may be collected under the US laws in some cases and users consent will be prioritized.
However the statement seems in complete because firstly the tech giant failed to tell the public as to what factors are leading them to collect such information while what they mean by face and voice prints was also not mentioned. It also did not mention which law will they be following, the federal law, the state’s law or both of them and how are they planning on asking users.
The US law part of the statement seems disturbing because there are only a few states in the United States that have privacy laws related to biometrics and while it is assuring that the users will be asked before collecting information in those states, what about those users who live in states without any laws of the said problem?
When a member of the team was asked to comment on this, he failed to response.
This new law is emerging at a time when TikTok is under hot waters itself in the United States and is trying to regain back the trust of the users there after a ban was implemented on the application by Trump claiming that it was a byproduct of a Chinese organization and may be a threat to them.
TikTok assured them that their US user data is stored in the US and Singapore office only and never has and never will be stored in China.
However, TikTok already has plenty of data that it collects from users so what was the thing that drove them to collect biometrics as well.
From what we believe is that TikTok has already been filed a case with a lawsuit of 92 million as settlement as a violation of social media law by a Illinoi privacy rules related to biometrics and other 20 cases separately were issued against the platform for collecting the data and hence TikTok immediately launched a new rule in which they mentioned that biometrics could be collected under certain circumstances in order to avoid any more law suits.
Read next: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp: These Were the Most Downloaded Apps for May 2021
