Zoom Fined for User Privacy Breach

Zoom Fined for User Privacy Breach

After customers accused Zoom of breaching their privacy rights, the company agreed to pay $85 million in a class action lawsuit settlement. Several plaintiffs have joined a class action complaint against Zoom, claiming that the video conferencing platform broke California law by: (1) disclosing Plaintiffs' personally identifiable information with other parties; (2) misrepresenting Zoom's security capabilities.

The plaintiffs originally claimed that Zoom had improperly shared users' personally identifying information with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. The plaintiffs then alleged that Zoom misrepresented its security capabilities and that they could still view and listen to Zoom meetings' video and audio recordings.

Moreover, Zoom filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' claims, citing Section 230(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act, which stipulates that an interactive computer service provider should not be considered as the publisher or speaker of material given by another information content source.

Finally, it is notable that in a previous deal with US authorities, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ordered Zoom to improve its security measures. Similarly, the FTC claimed in that lawsuit that Zoom deceived consumers by making false statements and engaging in deceptive activities.  Thereafter, Zoom had vowed to review software upgrades for security vulnerabilities in response.