Zoom settles lawsuit over privacy issues

Zoom agreed to pay $85 million and improve its security practices in order to settle a lawsuit that alleged that the platform violated the privacy of its users. The lawsuit was filed in March 2020. Plaintiffs claimed that Zoom shared personal data with third-party companies and that allowed hackers to interrupt online meetings through so-called “Zoombombing”. On some occasions, offensive messages or images were shown to Zoom users during their conference calls. The settlement still required the approval of a federal judge. In 2020, 14 class actions were filed against the platform over Zoombombing claims that involved racist language and pornography. In one circumstance, white supremacist messages appeared during a webinar on anti-Semitism. These lawsuits were consolidated into a single class-action suit.