Google says no to Zoom

Zoom, the videoconferencing software that people seem to alternately love and hate these days, is no longer allowed on Google’s workers’ laptops. 

This is according to BuzzFeed, which claims that Google sent an email to employees whose laptop had Zoom installed, warning them it will stop working this week. 

In the email, Google cites “security vulnerabilities” as reasoning behind the decision, and Zoom has certainly had a number of issues in the security and privacy department. These include a bug which allowed attackers to steal other users’ Windows login credentials, sending data to Facebook without a good reason, and vulnerability of its software to people crashing into other people’s chats uninvited, the practice known as Zoombombing.

Last week, Zoom apologized for the errors and promised it will freeze the software’s features development for 90 days in order to fully focus on fixing them. 

A Google spokesperson confirmed the decision to BuzzFeed. “Recently, our security team informed employees using Zoom Desktop Client that it will no longer run on corporate computers as it does not meet our security standards for apps used by our employees,” the spokesperson said. 

It’s worth noting, however, that Zoom is competing with several of Google’s own videoconferencing apps, most notably Meet.

Google’s decision follows a similar decision from SpaceX, which recently banned employees from using Zoom, citing “significant privacy and security concerns.” Zoom was also recently banned in New York City schools, as well as Taiwan government agencies. 

Zoom has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent months, jumping from 10 million daily users in December 2019 to 200 million in March 2020. The company’s software offers a pretty good videochatting experience at a time when millions around the globe are at home due to the coronavirus outbreak. According to the company CEO Eric S. Yuan, the sudden surge in popularity brought on a number of “challenges” which the company is now scrambling to fix.