Late last month, Vice News’ Motherboard reported that Zoom’s iOS app was sharing users’ data with social networking website Facebook - prompting the company to respond.
"We will be removing the Facebook SDK [software development kit] and reconfiguring the feature so that users will still be able to login with Facebook via their browser,” Zoom said in a March 27 statement to the outlet following the report.
“Users will need to update to the latest version of our application once it becomes available in order for these changes to take hold, and we encourage them to do so. We sincerely apologize for this oversight, and remain firmly committed to the protection of our users’ data,"
While the remote conferencing company has since removed the segment of the app’s code which provides the data to Facebook, one user was clearly not satisfied and filed a lawsuit against the company in a San Jose, California, federal court on Monday, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The court document observed by the outlet argues that Zoom’s “wholly inadequate program design and security measures have resulted, and will continue to result, in unauthorized disclosure of its users’ personal information.”
Robert Cullen, the Sacramento, California, resident who filed the suit, is looking to represent other users of the video conferencing service, according to Bloomberg. The court filing demands that Zoom pay punitive damages and other damages over its violation of California’s Consumer Privacy Act.
In addition to legal troubles, the video conferencing app has recently been hit with hackers trying to troll the service - which has seen a spike in use following the continued COVID-19 novel coronavirus-related stay-at-home orders and quarantines worldwide.
Sputnik reported Tuesday that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had launched a probe after receiving “multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language.” Additionally, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a letter to Zoom “with a number of questions to ensure the company is taking appropriate steps to ensure users’ privacy and security,” according to a spokesman for James’ office.
