Zoom to pay $85 million in settlements for false encryption claims

Zoom has agreed to a preliminary settlement of $85 million against a lawsuit that alleged misrepresentation on the part of the company regarding its security practices. The settlement currently awaits approval by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California.

Zoom was first spotted making fake claims of end-to-end encryption on its video calls back in 2020.

The company has now been accused of sharing user data with companies like Facebook and Google despite suggesting otherwise.

As per the settlement, Zoom subscribers would receive 15 per cent refunds on their core subscriptions or $25, whichever is larger.

Video teleconferencing service Zoom has agreed to pay $85 million as a settlement to a lawsuit that blamed the company for sharing its user data with the likes of Facebook, Google and LinkedIn. In addition to the settlement amount, the company will also ramp up its security practices to prevent any future hacks of its video calls.

The new settlement comes in response to an amended class-action complaint filed against the firm back in May this year. The complaint alleged that Zoom made false promises of end-to-end (E2E) encryption for its users.

The practice was first brought to the limelight in a report by The Intercept dated March 2020. The report highlighted that the company's so-called end-to-end encryption was not what the term stands for in the industry.

The lawsuit thus blamed Zoom for incorrectly suggesting to users that its video calls were end-to-end encrypted. Zoom issued an apology for the same in August 2020 and brought in true E2E encryption to Zoom calls later that year.