Zoom To Offer Encryption Only For Paying Users, Openly Says It Will Share Data with the FBI

As the demand for video conferencing tools skyrocketed in recent months, so did Zoom’s popularity and concerns regarding its privacy.

Now, after security experts have drawn attention to Zoom security flaws, the company itself seems to double down and give users reason for alarm.

On Tuesday, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan told investors that Zoom will not offer end-to-end encryption to free users, only to paid users.

This confirmed an earlier report by Reuters, who claimed that encryption will be reserved to paying Zoom customers alone.

The reason?

Yuan said it’s because “we also want to work it together with the FBI”.

The past few months, the company has received a host of complaints about the lack of end-to-end encryption, and even incorrectly said at one point that Zoom did offer this essential security and privacy feature.

Now, it seems Zoom no longer cares about the critics and is happy to comply with the US authorities, who have waged war on end-to-end encryption for years.

Apple was embroiled in a legal battle with the FBI and others, refusing to give up their customers’ personal data or allow backdoors.

Zooms seems to be going the other way.

“Free users — for sure we don’t want to give [them] that, because we also want to work together with the FBI, with local law enforcement, in case some people use Zoom for a bad purpose,” Yuan told investors.

If want to continue using the service, here is how you can use Zoom safely. 

If you are looking for alternatives, we highly recommend Jitsi, a free, open source and encrypted alternative.