[Updated] Zoom's iOS App Secretly Sends Data to Facebook: Report

// Update one (xxx/03/2020 10:29 am) Zoom has updated its iOS app to remove Facebook code

With the entire globe reeling from the rapid spread of the Coronavirus pandemic, a lot of people (students, teachers, groups of friends) accept turned to video conferencing options like Zoom to stay in impact, or to continue their education while maintaining social distance. In fact, Zoom has exploded in popularity since the Coronavirus pandemic started spreading through the globe.

However, a new report from Motherboard claims that the iOS app for Zoom is sending data to Facebook without the user'due south knowledge. What's worse, is that this data is being sent fifty-fifty if the user in question doesn't even take a Facebook account.

Motherboard's analysis suggests that Zoom connects to Facebook'southward Graph API and thereafter lets Facebook know when a user opens the app, the details about the device they are using, and even data like the city they're based in, their carrier, and a unique advertisement identifier for advertizement targeting.

More than troubling than the bodily data transfer nevertheless, is the fact that Zoom isn't actually mentioning this sort of transfer within its privacy policy at all. "That's shocking. There is nothing in the privacy policy that addresses that," said Pat Walsh, an activist who analysed Zoom's Privacy Policy.

Zoom as well mentions that the service will collect Facebook information if a user logs-in with Facebook or creates a Zoom business relationship using Facebook. But again, it doesn't mention that even if a user doesn't accept a Facebook account, the app even so collects and sends data to Facebook anyway.

This isn't the only potential privacy issue with Zoom. According to the EFF, Zoom phone call hosts can see whether participants accept the Zoom window open or not, they can likewise see participants' IP addresses, location information, and device data.

Update i (thirty/03/2020 10:29 am)

Subsequently the investigation and report from Motherboard, Zoom has rolled out a new update to its iOS app which removes the code that was sending data to Facebook.

In a statement given to Motherboard, Zoom said "Zoom takes its users' privacy extremely seriously. We originally implemented the 'Login with Facebook' feature using the Facebook SDK in order to provide our users with another user-friendly manner to admission our platform. Yet, we were recently made aware that the Facebook SDK was collecting unnecessary device data."