Zoom has reiterated that it has no ties with China, to preclude any attacks from the Indian government and the general public, in light of the recent ban on Chinese apps in the country. The company has also said that it would increase its investments in the region, to earn some brownie points.
Zoom has been at the centre of attention worldwide during the coronavirus outbreak, as work from home became the new normal. Since, most companies and institutes switched their work profile to work from home, video conferencing became the need of the hour, and Zoom had arrived their early.
In fact, the opportunity was so alluring that many apps like Google Meet and Reliance JioMeet have since entered the market . Even WhatsApp now lets us to make a conference call to up to 8 people, which was initially allowing us to connect only 4 video callers, trying to follow the ‘Zoom’ way of doing things.
However, the app did have a rocky start and has been trying to come over the water ever since. During its earlier days, serious security concerns were raised at Zoom’s privacy setup, and the company was ostracized for putting user data at risk. Things took a turn for the worse when Citizen Lab researchers found that some calls in the region of North America were being routed through China, along with the encryption keys to secure those calls. Therefore, due to the lack of end to end encryption on the service(as opposed to what Zoom claims), Chinese authorities could ask Zoom to turn over encryption keys to video calls that have been made on the platform, giving them access to vital information about US companies.
Zoom has since then tried to convince the people of its regard for safety, and rolled out many changes to the platform. In May, it acquired identity management firm Keybase to roll out end-to-end encryption to its users.
However, with India-China border tensions on the rise, if your brand ever had the “China” tag, it becomes difficult to wash it off. That is the reason why the company has decided to clear off its name, clarifying that it is a U.S. based entity, and in no way, shape or form, works with China. This is to avert any scrutiny that the platform may face due to its less-than-perfect past with China.
“We do recognize that as we continue to introduce ourselves to the Indian market, there has been some confusion about the facts as it relates to Zoom. We want to work through these. Some of the misconceptions are disheartening, especially those about Zoom and China. Zoom has been clear about its identity: Zoom is a U.S. company, publicly traded on the NASDAQ, founded and headquartered in San Jose, California. And like many global technology companies, Zoom has offices in China operated by subsidiaries of the U.S. parent company,” wrote Velchamy Sankarlingam, president of engineering and product at Zoom, in a blog post.
Additionally, Sankarlingam also talked about planned India investments for Zoom. “We also have plans for significant investment in the country over the next five years and beyond, including expanding our footprint and hiring more top talent in the region. India is and will continue to be an important market for Zoom, and we are excited to build on the exciting opportunities we see in the region,” Velchamy added.
