TOKYO – The Clubhouse voice chat app has been unveiled in the last few weeks as a unique new kind of social media, attracting a wide range of fans from Chinese dissidents to Elon Musk.
But as its users reach millions, authorities and experts have heard warning bells about its operator ‘s vague privacy practices.
The audio-only platform, launched last year by US-based developer Alpha Exploration, allows users to join themed chat rooms to listen to speakers and interact with them – like a call-in radio show or panel discussion – or free for -all conversations.
It has become very popular with celebrities, and has seen a rise in popularity, including in Asia, following the recent debut of Tesla Musk. Just weeks after its January launch in Japan, young politicians have begun using it to communicate with voters.
The app gained a big following in China, with many using the platform to talk about sensitive topics like Hong Kong, the Tiananmen Square crackdown and human rights concerns in Xinjiang outside the grip of ubiquitous censors Beijing. But it wasn’t long before the government stopped, and a clubhouse apparently was blocked on the Chinese mainland this month.
Now regulators in Europe are raising other concerns.
In a statement this month, data protection authorities in the German city of Hamburg warned the app “raises many questions about the privacy of users and third parties.” Of particular concern, they said, is that “operators also store records of all conversations held in the app’s various rooms to monitor abuse without the more intimate situations being apparent.”
Very few users are aware that their conversations are logged. The terms of the platform prohibit users from doing so themselves without the express written permission of everyone involved, and it seems – in contrast to the sustainability of platforms like Facebook and Twitter – as part of its application.
The fact that registered chairs are stated in Clubhouse’s terms of service and privacy policy, which states that they are only used for investigations into reported breaches of trust and safety rules, are deleted. when a room ends if no events are reported.
However, some aspects of this process are unclear, such as the standards for determining which ideas would trigger an investigation, and there is no way to determine whether records have been deleted.
Many lawyers with experience in data privacy issues say that record keeping could be illegal in Europe without better explanation and clearer consent from users.
The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires specific permission for the collection of personal data in most cases. But it is very likely that users will not be aware of Clubhouse ‘s registration policy without reading through its English terms of use.
“That doesn’t seem to be enough” to comply with GDPR, said a European-based lawyer.
Hamburg authorities also raised concerns about Clubhouse ‘s handling of contact information from users’ phones.
Clubhouse is an invitation-only service, and users cannot send any invitations without giving the app full access to their contacts, including names and numbers phone. This may provide the company with information about people who do not use the app, but the terms of use do not explain how this data is handled, or offer any means of deleting it.
“One of the principles of the GDPR is to collect the minimum amount of data required,” said Takeshige Sugimoto, a partner at Brussels law firm S&K and a data law expert. The collection of data from nonusers clubs may contravene this principle, depending on how the data is used.
“Many people’s contact data, without even communicating with the app, ends up in foreign hands” – the app’s American operator – without complying with European protection requirements, said Hamburg authorities.
It is also possible that information collected by Clubhouse may be passed on to third parties without user experience.
The app has access to a variety of data about its users, including topics of interest to them and people with whom they work. And the company’s explanation of the reasons it uses this information is “abstract and can be explained in general terms,” Sugimoto said.
Clubhouse’s privacy policy states that personal data may be used to “personalize” the service, and that the company may share aggregate information such as general user statistics with potential business partners. “
Such privacy issues have escalated with other social media companies, most notably Facebook, which has been heavily criticized for collecting detailed personal data about users without their knowledge and for using it for additional microtargeted advertising. shared by participants. But other platforms have improved in recent years.
“Clubhouse has classic problems with personal data protection,” said Japan-based lawyer Ryoji Mori.
Nikkei emailed Clubhouse a list of questions about the registration and protection policies for personal data, but did not receive a response as of Friday.
A year after its launch, Clubhouse is still in beta. Its procedures for handling personal information have not kept pace with its explosive growth. Consumers need to be careful.