Why is Zoom not banned in India following calls for boycott of Chinese apps?

The Indian government recently issued a ban on as many as 59 Chinese apps in the wake of rising Indo-China border tension in Ladakh, citing national security concerns. TikTok, ShareIt, and UC Browser are amongst the most used apps in the country that made it to the ban list, however, many Indian users were left with the questions, “why did the government not ban Zoom” and “why is Zoom still working”?

Also Read | CamScanner Alternatives That Will Fulfill All Your Scanning Needs

Why is Zoom not banned in India?

Zoom is not a Chinese-based company at all. It is an American company which was founded by Eric Yuan, a Chinese-American billionaire businessman. The company is headquartered in California and incorporated in Delaware. Yuan, who owns 22% of Zoom Video Communications, holds American citizenship.

Addressing the app security concerns, a recent CERT-In advisory stated that the latest version of Zoom 5.0 has been released that comes with support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption of meeting data, offering higher resistance to tampering.

The national technology arm also said that there are a bunch of other security improvements in the app which include changing the minimum default password length for meetings, webinars and cloud recordings. In addition, there is another security feature allowing admins to disable sharing on cloud recordings and also configure the expiration times.

Also Read | How To Delete Chinese Apps In Android Using Third Party Applications?

Zoom is one of the highly preferred platforms when it comes to video-conferencing needs. The app gained prominence during the coronavirus pandemic which necessitated the need for a platform-facilitated communication amongst people working from home.

With the massive explosion in Zoom users over the past few months, there have been concerns from users surrounding data privacy especially after the Computer Emergency Response Team of India, the national cyber-security agency, cautioned against the cyber vulnerability of using the video conferencing app. This led to demands from social media users calling for a ban on Zoom Communications, Inc. as well. Not just Zoom, a number of users on social media platforms have also called for a ban on popular gaming app PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds), and messaging service WhatsApp.

Also Read | How To Delete Mi Video App If It's Pre-installed On Your Phone?

Also Read | India Bans 59 Chinese Apps: List Of Alternatives To Replace Chinese Mobile Applications

Image credits: Allie Smith | Unsplash