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The Clubhouse was sort of perfectly cut out for the pandemic. People don’t go out and are desperate for social connection and entertainment. The app provides both in a way, while also capitalizing on the draw of famous influencers on the platform.
It also relies on one of the most effective strategies for generating buzz and excitement: scarcity. To join the Clubhouse, you must have an invitation from someone who is already a member. Not only that, they need to have your phone number and give Clubhouse access to their iPhone contacts. No access, no invitations.
From a business perspective, it certainly makes sense for Clubhouse to take this approach. Creating a social graph from scratch is very difficult and requiring users to upload their contact list is the most efficient way to determine connections.
There is a problem, however. As always, the problem is finding the right balance between protecting user privacy and using data to provide the best experience for the user and the business behind the app.
In this sense, it is worth considering that Clubhouse has some policies that are not very privacy friendly. Worse yet, you have to dig a little deeper to understand what these policies really are. I contacted Clubhouse several times, but did not immediately receive an answer to my questions about how it uses data.
1. Clubhouse records your audio.
One of the “hallmarks” of Clubhouse is that it is ephemeral. You can’t listen to it later, or even pause the room you’re in. You must come live to participate in the experience. This is one thing that sets it apart, for example, from podcasts, which are recorded and can be listened to at any time. You can’t even record conversations on Clubhouse.
Except that Clubhouse can and does record what you say. The app’s privacy policy states that Clubhouse rooms are saved:
For the sole purpose of facilitating incident investigations, we temporarily record audio in a room while the room is live. If a user reports a trust and security breach while the room is active, we retain the audio to investigate the incident and then remove it when the investigation is complete. If no incidents are reported in a room, we remove the temporary audio recording at the end of the room.
This means that if someone reports a problem, everything that happened in the room is recorded and saved. And, Clubhouse isn’t clear on what happens to it other than that it’s backed up so the company can make a decision. It does not say who can listen to it, nor under what conditions.
2. You cannot delete information that other people share about you.
Even if you haven’t created an account, if someone you know already has one, there’s a good chance Clubhouse already has your phone number. Indeed, the application encourages users to download their entire database of contacts in order to send invitations. You can only invite someone who is one of your contacts, and that doesn’t include any ability to share only specific contacts. It’s all or nothing.
In addition, not only these friends may have shared their contact list, but if they connect their social media profiles, this information is also collected. Clubhouse specifically says that when you “create your account and / or authenticate with a third-party service like Twitter, we may collect, store and periodically update information associated with that third-party account, such as your friends lists or of subscribers. “
What if, say, you aren’t interested in the Clubhouse at all? There is still no mechanism to have any personal information about you, either through a phone number or through other social media networks like Twitter or Instagram.
3. You cannot just delete your account.
In fact, even if you have an account, you cannot delete it without sending an email to a support account. There is no option anywhere in the app to delete your account, and there are also no instructions on what to do if you wish to delete it. You must send an email to “[email protected]” to request deletion of your account and wait for someone to take action.
4. They may share your personal information without notifying you.
One of the biggest questions surrounding the Clubhouse is how it plans to eventually make money. Looking through the privacy policy, it is clear that it will likely involve some form of advertising or sponsorship system. To prepare for this, Clubhouse makes it clear that it “may share personal data with our current and future affiliates”.
This is fine, but this same section makes it clear that Clubhouse “may share the categories of personal data described above without further notice”. This means that you do not have the right to know that your personal information which was collected by Clubhouse is now being used outside Clubhouse.
5. Clubhouse follows you.
The privacy policy states that it uses cookies, pixels, and tracking technologies to monitor what you do within Clubhouse and on the web, even if they are not currently monetizing the app. This is both confirmed by the privacy policy, as well as by traffic monitoring, which shows that it uses activity tracking and analysis tools to understand what you are doing with the app.
The company’s privacy policy also explicitly says:
We may share identifying data and internet activity data with social media platforms and other advertising partners who will use this information to deliver targeted advertisements to you on social media and advertising platforms. other third party websites – under certain regulations, such sharing may be considered a “sale” of Personal Data.
It seems pretty clear that Clubhouse is preparing to monetize the platform it is building. That’s right – every business should have a plan for making money. If this plan includes monetizing the activity and data of its users, I think we can all agree that it should be upfront and transparent about it.
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