Washington, D.C. - Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) released the following statement after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) required Zoom Video Communications, Inc. to boost its security practices after undermining the safety of and misleading its users, which skyrocketed from 10 million in December 2019 to 300 million in April 2020 during COVID-19.
“Due to COVID-19, millions of Americans turned to Zoom’s platform to stay connected to loved ones and educate their children. Their failure to adequately protect their users’ data is unacceptable. We thank the FTC for taking action to ensure the security and safety of U.S. consumers as we continue to use videoconferencing and other technologies, and we hope Zoom takes swift action to implement these robust security measures.
“We remain committed to working in Congress to keep consumer data safe, and hope Democrats will return to the table to create a much-needed national data privacy framework. Even Democrat FTC Commissioner Chopra pointed out in his dissent of today’s decision: ‘Markets benefit when there are simple, clear rules of the road. This allows honest businesses to know what is and is not permissible. This especially helps small businesses and startups.’ This message must be sent to the trial lawyers - it is time for Democrats to tell trial lawyers enough is enough and get out of the way of a national data privacy framework that delivers on this certainty for innovators and consumers alike," said Walden and Rodgers.
In June, Reps. Walden and Rodgers wrote to Zoom Founder and CEO Eric Yuan questions regarding the company’s data privacy practices and potential coordination with the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party.
After receiving the letter, Zoom posted a blog acknowledging its coordination with Chinese authorities on accounts outside of mainland China.
Learn more about the FTC’s settlement with Zoom, here.
