Back in 2020, Zoom was one of the hottest software companies in the world. Its video conferencing software surged in popularity due to millions of people being confined to home offices because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, the company cut some corners when it came to privacy of its users. Despite Zoom’s claims that its video meetings are end-to-end encrypted, it came to light that this was not true, resulting in a class action lawsuit that Zoom settled for $85 million. In 2021, Zoom also settled with the Federal Trade Commission over misleading its users about the privacy and security of its core product.
But the matter did not go away entirely. There’s also the separate matter of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe into Zoom’s privacy policies, which the agency launched in 2020.
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Now, Bloomberg reports that Zoom is offering to settle the matter with the SEC by paying an $18 million fine. The offer is still pending approval by the SEC.
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These days, Zoom does offer end-to-end encryption for its video meetings, and its privacy and security practices have improved. But back in 2020, the company’s track record was poor, with Zoom bombings — instances of people hijacking other people’s Zoom calls and harassing them — becoming somewhat of a trend.
By the way, you may have missed it, but Zoom is no longer called “Zoom Video Communications,” which was its official name until Monday. Now, the company is officially called Zoom Communications to reflect the fact that it now offers a suite of communications tools beyond its videoconferencing platform.
