• Those with blue subscription will need to submit a selfie & government ID that X will share with Israeli company AU10TIX.
• The Israel-based company was founded by former Israeli intelligence officials.
Concerns have been raised by campaigners due to emerging reports indicating that the process of verifying premium users on X (formerly Twitter) will be managed by an Israeli firm established by former members of Israeli intelligence.
According to PC Magazine, the new measures will require users to submit a government-issued ID along with a selfie. A third-party software, AU10TIX, will then gather the biometric data from X and retain this information for a duration of up to 30 days.
Established in 2002 as the technological division of Dutch security firm ICTS International, the service provider, Au10tix, was co-founded by individuals including former members of the Shin Bet intelligence services.
According to X, the gathered information, in addition to data obtained from a user’s profile, will be utilized “for the purpose of safety and security, including preventing impersonation.”
In a conversation with Middle East Eye, Nadim Nashif, the executive director of 7amleh, an organization in Israel that monitors social media, expressed concern over the platform’s collaboration with the organization.
“Au10tix is located in Israel and both have a well-documented history of military surveillance and intelligence gathering…this association raises questions about the potential implications for user privacy and data security,” he said.
Recent Instances of Corporate Connections with Israeli Tech Companies Affiliated with Israeli Intelligence
In 2019, Business Insider reported on how Microsoft had funded an Israeli facial recognition start-up whose tech was reportedly being used to secretly spy on Palestinians.
In June 2019, Microsoft revealed its participation in a $78 million Series A funding cycle for AnyVision, an Israeli enterprise specializing in facial recognition technology. The decision to invest was met with swift criticism from human rights advocates, as detailed by Forbes.
Investigations conducted by NBC News and Haaretz have provided additional insight into the activities of AnyVision. These investigations outline how the company’s software is employed by the Israeli military to covertly carry out large-scale surveillance of Palestinians in the West Bank.
