A former China-based Zoom executive has been accused by the Justice Department of interrupting video meetings commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Zoom confirmed Friday.
Why it’s important: This case could shake the foundations of American technological cooperation with China. U.S. government investigators and officials have warned of the possibility that the Chinese government may require Chinese-based employees to hand over data from private companies to Beijing. This accusation indicates that these fears are, in fact, a reality.
Details: Xinjiang Jin, also known as Julien Jin, was Zoom’s “main liaison” with the Chinese security forces and intelligence services, which regularly responded to Beijing’s requests for “information and termination meetings.” video “organized on the company ‘s video platform, according to the complaint. .
- Jin allegedly provided the Chinese government with information that included IP addresses, names and email addresses of users located outside of China.
- The complaint also alleges that Jin was responsible for “proactively monitoring” the Zoom platform for what Beijing considers “illegal” meetings that discuss “unacceptable political and religious issues for the Chinese Communist Party.”
Between lines: The indictment does not reveal the name of the company, but Zoom confirmed in a blog post that he had been “fully cooperating with the Justice Department” and began his own internal investigation. In an incident this summer – first reported by Axios – Zoom closed the account of a group of prominent Chinese activists based in the United States after holding a memorial service for the massacre.
- Zoom, who has faced scrutiny of security issues and its ties with China as its growth has accelerated massively during the pandemic, acknowledged after the Axios report that it had received a request from the Chinese government.
- The company claimed it only took action because the Chinese government informed the company that “this activity is illegal in China.” and the metadata from that meeting showed “a significant number of participants from mainland China.” Free discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement is banned in China.
What they say: “The allegations in the complaint revealed the Faustian negotiation that the [People’s Republic of China] the government requires U.S. technology companies to do business within the borders of the People’s Republic of China and the privileged threat these companies face from their own employees in the People’s Republic of China, ”he said. Seth DuCharme, American lawyer in Brooklyn.
- “Jin wanted to commit crimes and tried to deceive other people in the company, to help the PRC authorities censor and punish the basic political discourse of US users simply to exercise their rights to free speech,” DuCharme continued.
- “The charges announced today make it clear that employees working in the PRC for U.S. technology companies make these companies and their users vulnerable to the malignant influence of the PRC government.”
Read the full Zoom statement responding to charges.