"ByteDance sued for allegedly collecting biometric data without consent", 2 August 2023

ByteDance is facing a class-action lawsuit over claims that its CapCut video-editing app is vacuuming up data from its more than 200 million active users without consent. Among other things, the lawsuit, which was filed in Illinois, claims that CapCut violates the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting data like face scans and voiceprints without informing users or getting express permission.

The app also allegedly collects details about a user's location, date of birth and gender as well as their photos and videos... In addition, the suit claims that the app is capable of harvesting data from user devices, including the MAC address and SIM serial number.

The lawsuit asserts that CapCut's privacy policy was designed to make it hard for people to understand or to give the app “meaningful, express consent.”...Moreover, the suit points out that, since ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, the company may be compelled to share CapCut data with the Chinese government.

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The class-action suit asks a district court to block ByteDance from sending CapCut user data and content to China, and from collecting users' biometric information and other data without consent. The plaintiffs asked the court to compel ByteDance to delete any user data and content it unlawfully obtained through CapCut as well.