Video Editing Application ByteDance CapCut Claimed To Suction Data From 200 Million Users Without Permission

CapCut which is claimed to have sucked in data from more than 200 million users (photo: dock. tiktok)

JAKARTA - ByteDance has been sued by users of its video editing application, CapCut, which is claimed to have sucked in data from its more than 200 million active users without their consent.

Pengguna, yang tidak disebutkan namanya dan diperkirakan oleh kantor hukum Hagens Berman mengajukan gugatan class action di Illinois, Amerika Serikat (AS) pada 28 Juli, menyatakan CapCut telah melanggar Undang-Undang Privasi Informasi Biometric (BIPA) negara bagian tersebut.

CapCut allegedly collected data such as facial scanning, voiceprints, details about the user's location, date of birth, gender and photos and videos.

The collection of illegal data is evidenced in a targeted advertising delivery service. Not only that, the lawsuit also accused CapCut of taking data from the user's device, including the MAC address and SIM serial number.

In fact, said CapCut and ByteDance provided sensitive user data to the Chinese government for surveillance and other purposes. All of these data were taken without notifying them or obtaining written permission.

"This application is dangerous. Through secretly collecting your location data from time to time, it can build a stunning description of you and your children's personal life patterns," explained the management partner at Hagens Berman and the lawyer who led the case, Steve Berman.

"Including where you work, where your children go to school, information about health, religion, politics, your intimate relationships, everything that is needed to blackmail you for maximum profit."

CapCut itself is an advanced editing application whose videos can be posted on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram or other social media. The app has been downloaded globally by more than 400 million in 2022.

"Because ByteDance is a tool application, not a social media application, ByteDance mostly avoids monitoring how to handle user data," said Berman.

"It ends now. It is an application that has been banned in India, and TikTok, which is also owned by ByteDance, has been banned from US government devices due to privacy concerns. ByteDance cannot be allowed to continue exploiting unchecked and immoral personal information," he added.

To avoid the same case, the class action lawsuit asked the court to block ByteDance from sending data, CapCut user content to China, and other data without consent.

The plaintiff asked the court to force ByteDance to delete all unauthorized user data and content via CapCut as well. This was quoted from Engadget and Business Wire, Thursday, August 3.