Former President Trump made moves against TikTok's parent company ByteDance as the former President's administration expressed concerns over the app's privacy policy.
Now, TikTok has recently made changes to its privacy policy which allows the app to "collect biometric identifiers and biometric identification" from user content. For those wondering if that includes faceprints and voiceprints - yes, it does. Here's what the company's privacy policy says, "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 TikTok insiders have come out to CNBC and said that ByteDance "has access to American user data and is actively involved in the Los Angeles company's decision-making and product development." Additionally, one TikTok insider said that ByteDance has the capabilities of accessing data for all American TikTok users, as the employee reached out to ByteDance in China to harvest data on a specific user. The parent company promptly sent back the relevant information after performing a global analysis of its user base.
Ambuj Kumar, CEO of the cybersecurity company Fortanix said to CNBC, "I'd be shocked if they are not storing all the videos being posted by teenagers. Twenty years from now, 30 years from now, 50 years from now when we want to nominate our next justice to the US Supreme Court, at that time they will go back and find everything they can, and then they'll decide what to do with it."
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