CapCut has a billion downloads. CapCut is owned by ByteDance. ByteDance is a Chinese company. China's National Intelligence Law requires all organisations to cooperate with state intelligence. When you use CapCut's face filters, you're submitting biometric face data to a company that cannot legally refuse a request from Chinese intelligence. A billion faces. ByteDance also collects your device identifiers, location, keystroke patterns, and clipboard data. CapCut is free because you're not paying with money. You're paying with your face, your location, and your keystrokes -- to a company subject to the intelligence laws of a government that has built the most comprehensive surveillance state in human history. A teacher tells a 10-year-old to make a video for a school project. The kid uses CapCut because it's free. The kid uses a face filter because it's fun. The kid's biometric face data goes to ByteDance in China. No age check. No parental consent. No warning. CapCut doesn't ask how old you are before scanning your face. Schools recommend it because it's free and easy. Parents don't know it's owned by the same company as TikTok. A child's face data, collected for a school project, processed by a company subject to Chinese intelligence laws. The teacher wanted creativity. ByteDance got biometrics.
What they claim: CapCut is a free, easy-to-use video editor from ByteDance, offering filters, effects, and templates for creating social media content.
What we found: CapCut is owned by ByteDance, the same Chinese company that owns TikTok. China's National Intelligence Law (2017) requires all organisations and citizens to "support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence work." ByteDance cannot refuse a Chinese government request for data. CapCut collects face data through AR filters and face-based effects -- biometric data processed by a company legally obligated to share data with Chinese intelligence if requested. With over 1 billion downloads, CapCut has more face data than most governments. The app also collects device identifiers, location data, keystroke patterns, and clipboard contents. CapCut was included in proposed TikTok bans in Montana and at the federal level. A free video editor that collects biometric face data, owned by a company subject to Chinese intelligence cooperation laws, used by a billion people who think they're editing videos.
What they claim: CapCut is widely used by children and teenagers for school projects, social media content creation, and creative expression.
What we found: CapCut collects face data, location, device identifiers, keystroke patterns, and clipboard data from all users -- including the millions of children who use it for school projects and TikTok videos. No age verification prevents children from using face-based AR filters that submit biometric data to ByteDance's servers. COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) prohibits collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. Face data is personal information. CapCut does not gate face filter access behind age verification or parental consent. A child using CapCut's face effects for a school project is submitting their biometric data to a Chinese company. Schools that encourage students to create video content often recommend CapCut as a free tool -- inadvertently directing children's face data to ByteDance.