The lock down sensation Zoom despite much debate attained a large number of users. The online meeting platform popular for easy interface faced widespread criticism for its China connection. However, the platform is the most used app for online meetings today. Recently, the app’s blocking of an activist in US exposed its adherence to Chinese policies.
The Communist government of China is well known for full fledged censorship of information within the country and its wide range of propaganda army spreading false narratives of the country. Since the outbreak of Coronavirus from Wuhan city of China, the world crippled under forced lock down. This has led to a need for a virtual meeting platform so that businesses continued.
However, the opportunity was yet again exploited by China as Zoom became new way to host meetings across the world. Despite claims the Zoom is American company, the owner of the company is a Chinese origin American. Furthermore, two out of three companies which developed the software are in China. This should highly concern everyone using the app, especially in the free world.
China is the most popular violators of human rights and it enforces strict regulations of adherence to information sharing and censorship upon companies in their territory. Researchers from Canada have exposed security flaws in their encryption algorithms and identified that they routed meetings through its servers based in China. In the latest episode, the company acknowledged to have blocked an activist in US upon China’s direction.
Therefore, despite Zoom being a company listed in US on NASDAQ, serious security concerns can not be overlooked. We have therefore compiled the list of best alternatives to virtual meetings. The following are the best options you can opt for attending online meetings and discussions so that you can avoid using Zoom.
- Google Meet: This is the service provided by Google with amazing features. This can be the perfect alternative to zoom as it provides all the features required for an online meeting for free. It is after all owned by a purely american company which does not have any links to China.
- Cisco Webex: Designed for businesses of all sizes, it is a video conferencing solution that enables employees to collaborate with team members by sharing files, documents and screen.
- GoToMeeting: This yet another safe and secure video conference platform from United States. It has free basic plan that will enable you to carrying virtual meetings with necessary features.
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