Privacy is a major concern with ALL social media, but especially so with Tik Tok. It is owned by a Chinese company [and thus the Chinese government has a hand in it], and they have changed their terms of use to allow their systems to collect biometric information from their users, including faceprints and voiceprints.
The first part of the new section explains that TikTok may collect information about the images and audio that are in users’ content, “such as identifying the objects and scenery that appear, the existence and location within an image of face and body features and attributes, the nature of the audio, and the text of the words spoken in your User Content.”
While that may sound creepy, other social networks do object recognition on images you upload to power accessibility features (like describing what’s in an Instagram photo, for example), as well as for ad targeting purposes. Identifying where a person and the scenery is can help with AR effects, while converting spoken words to text helps with features like TikTok’s automatic captions.
The more concerning part of the new section references a plan to collect biometric data.
It states:
We may collect biometric identifiers and biometric information as defined under US laws, such as faceprints and voiceprints, from your User Content. Where required by law, we will seek any required permissions from you prior to any such collection.
The statement itself is vague, as it doesn’t specify whether it’s considering federal law, states laws, or both. It also doesn’t explain, as the other part did, why TikTok needs this data. It doesn’t define the terms “faceprints” or “voiceprints.” Nor does it explain how it would go about seeking the “required permissions” from users, or if it would look to either state or federal laws to guide that process of gaining consent.
This adds to the already voluminous amount of data we Social Media Users give up as a matter of course, every time we use the platforms, upload something, and click through those lengthy user Agreements.