In the aftermath of lockdowns across the world, Zoom emerged as the top video conferencing app. However, soon after its meteoric rise, allegations of the app being a stooge of CCP’s whimsies started emerging and the recent reports have all but ascertained those allegations. According to a Guardian report, Zoom has admitted that it suspended the accounts of human rights activists at the behest of the Xi Jinping Chinese regime and gave an indication that it is going to operate on a similar trajectory in the near future.
Three Hong Kong activists who were protesting virtually against the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre with attendees from Mainland China were reportedly blocked by the Silicon Valley-based company which is working as a long arm of the Chinese government.
In May and early June, the red-authoritarian Chinese government had dictated Zoom that four Tiananmen Square-related meetings will be held on the platform which were being widely publicized.
Hence the Communist regime wanted to crack-down on the event. It told Zoom to shut down the meetings and the accounts hosting them. And like an obedient son, the American app banished the users and their accounts. On being asked if they were given any rationale, the banned users said they were given no explanation by Zoom.
China and its communist government does not like anybody talking about the Tiananmen Square massacre whose 31st anniversary was celebrated by the survivors and the people across the globe, last week. China goes to great lengths to censor anything related to the incidents of June 4-5. June 4 is even dubbed as ‘Internet maintenance day’ in China as a number of websites go offline around the anniversary—their owners deciding that being dark is safer than accidentally publishing something which could provoke the ire of the authorities.
“The Chinese government informed us that this activity is illegal in China and demanded that Zoom terminate the meetings and host accounts,” Zoom said in its official statement.
If there was any proof for naysayers who gave clean-chit to Zoom’s Chinese connection saying it’s an American company–then they should take a good, long, hard look at these developments now.
The official statement from Zoom raises the long unanswered questions about Zoom and the extent of Chinese influence on it. Zoom bowing rather meekly and unapologetically in front of Chinese pressure and not giving any particular reason as to under which laws the meetings, which to begin with, were hosted outside Mainland China, were deemed illegal and banned.
It is unclear why the company would shut down the accounts of Zoom users based in the US and Hong Kong.
Zoom has been riddled with grave security and privacy concerns which has put numerous countries on the vigil with few of them having already banned it. Reported earlier by TFI, Zoom admitted and apologized for routing the user’s messages through China despite being a US, NASDAQ enlisted company; not following the true end-to-end encryption model and “zoombombing” when uninvited strangers crashed meetings with lewd and at times explicit content.
Zoom had already been banned in Taiwan by the government amidst rising concerns over the apps security features. The lapses drove away customers that included the likes of Elon Musk, who has banned the use of Zoom for SpaceX and Tesla due to privacy concerns.
This is not the first time that Zoom has been found in a pickle. It has a troubled history since its inception. Zoom has had security flaws in the past, including a vulnerability that allowed an attacker to remove attendees from meetings, spoof messages from users, and hijack shared screens. Another saw Mac users forced into calls without their knowledge.
The platform is riddled with numerous security issues due to which Zoom has paused all feature updates for 90 days. The app’s privacy policy gave it the right to utilize users’ data and also shared it with third-party marketers.
TFI has long been questioning the legitimacy of the app which claims to be an American company but all its vile activities, in bright neon lights, point to its brazen connection with China. If this incident does not open the eyes of the governments around the world regarding the authenticity of the app then we honestly don’t know what will. Simply put, the app is another espionage tool developed by the Communist country to infiltrate countries and steal the sensitive data.