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Zoom to Offer All Users Full Encryption, Bending to Pressure

  • Company will require users of free service to verify identity
  • Video-conferencing app will test strongest encryption in July
Apps Take Center Stage Amid Shelter-In-Place Covid-19 Guidelines
Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

Zoom Video Communications Inc. will offer full end-to-end encryption to all users, free and paid, succumbing to pressure from members of Congress and the public who pushed the video-conferencing company to bolster privacy.

Those using the service at no charge will have to verify their phone numbers to get access to the strongest level of security, Zoom Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan said Wednesday in a blog post. End-to-end encryption makes it impossible for third parties to decipher communications, but will mean that participants cannot call into a Zoom meeting on a telephone line.