TikTok just rolled out a dystopian new policy—to collect the sensitive biometric data of all its users in the US, including kids. It is completely unclear what they will do with these troves of data that could be used for racist facial recognition or other human rights violations, or shared or sold to the highest bidder, including law enforcement or ICE.

In February, TikTok paid a $92 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit for misleading users about biometric data collection. And because it hasn’t learned a thing, TikTok has now updated its US terms of service to explicitly allow biometric data collection.

As of June 2, by agreeing to TikTok’s terms and using the app, users are giving the app permission to collect sensitive and valuable biometric data, including face and voice prints. In most states, this change will appear as a harmless-looking “our terms of service have changed” notice, with a prompt to comply in order to continue using the app.

Researchers and experts regularly say that very few people are familiar enough with biometric data collection to truly be able to consent to the practice, but TikTok is requiring all users to comply with this creepy, invasive surveillance.

What’s even scarier is that, despite TikTok’s age requirement, actual children are being subjected to this policy change. In 2019, TikTok was fined $5.7 million for violating children’s privacy, and in the EU the platform is facing billions of dollars in fines for data collection and deceptive advertising to children. Although TikTok has age-gatekeeping practices, these are easily circumvented when users lie about their age.

Biometric data collection is a threat to human rights everywhere, and forcing users to comply is a dangerous and unethical practice. Once biometric data is collected, hackers can steal it and dystopian tech like facial recognition can be used to track and surveil users. Tell TikTok to reverse this policy change, permanently delete all biometric user data it has collected, and ban the collection of biometric data from the platform.

LETTER TEXT:

TikTok,

June’s update to the US terms of service includes a section that allows the platform to collect biometric data on users, including face and voice prints. This policy update applies to all users, and the collateral data collection will inevitably include children’s data. Biometric data is uniquely personal and its collection endangers everyone’s human rights. For the sake of user safety, autonomy, and children’s right to privacy, TikTok needs to reverse this policy change, permanently delete all biometric user data it has collected, and ban the collection of biometric data from the platform.