Zoom charged with $85 million settlement fee over privacy and ‘zoombombing’

Zoom has agreed to pay an $85 million settlement fee after customers accused the videoconferencing company of violating users’ privacy and enabling ‘zoombombing’ incidents.

The lawsuit, filed in March 2020 in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, accuses the firm of sharing its data with third-party companies such as Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. It is also accused of employing poor security that enabled ‘zoombombing’ incidents, in which unapproved attendees would drop into private meetings and share offensive and hateful content and imagery.

The $85 million settlement fee could see customers receiving a refund of either 15% of their subscription fee or $25, and subscribers outside of the suit could also receive a payment of $15. As well as the payment, the terms of the settlement require Zoom to put in additional steps to prevent intruders from entering private meetings and providing Zoom employees with specialised training on privacy and data handling.

Zoom said: “The privacy and security of our users are top priorities for Zoom, and we take seriously the trust our users place in us.”

The settlement still needs approval from U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, to be finalised.