Zoom Video Communications, the company behind the popular Zoom platform, has agreed to pay $85 million and improve its security practices to settle a lawsuit that claimed that the company violated users’ privacy rights.
The lawsuit alleged that the platform shared users’ personal data with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. It also talked about letting hackers disrupt Zoom meetings in a practice called “Zoombombing”, reports Reuters.
In the settlement agreement, the company denied wrongdoing. A preliminary settlement still requires approval by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California.
As for the compensation, the subscribers of the platform in the proposed class action would be eligible for 15% refunds on their core subscriptions or $25, whichever is larger while others could receive up to $15.
Apart from monetary compensation, Zoom has also agreed to security measures including alerting users when meeting hosts or other participants use third-party apps in meetings and providing specialized training to employees on privacy and data handling.
Though Zoom collected about $1.3 billion in Zoom Meetings subscriptions from class members, the plaintiffs’ lawyers called the $85 million settlement reasonable given the litigation risks. They intend to seek up to $21.25 million for legal fees.
The usage of Zoom surged during the COVID-19 pandemic as companies and companies, schools, and colleges opted for online meetings instead of in-person conduct. It had 497,000 customers with more than 10 employees in April 2021, a substantial increase from 81,900 in January 2020. But the company says that the user growth could slow or decline as more people get vaccines and return to work or school in person.
RELATED:
