Used Zoom during the pandemic? The company owes you some cash

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Zoom has reached an $85 million settlement as part of a class-action lawsuit regarding privacy. When Zoom gained massive popularity, people quickly realized that many of the rooms were open and “Zoombombing” gained traction.

Essentially, Zoombombing is when unwanted individuals join a Zoom call without being invited.

Outside users were able to interject themselves into private calls and bring all sorts of disruptions. The disruptions were often racist, pornographic, or sometimes even just trolls interrupting private meetings with no purpose.

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In addition to the settlement, Zoom has also increased the security of its platform. The platform has added end-to-end encryption to make its calls more secure. It also introduced in-product notifications to give users even more control over who can see and participate in their video calls.

Anyone may be entitled to a cash settlement if they used Zoom between March 30, 2016, and July 30, 2021. But don’t let that $85 million number get you too excited. Most users will only see $15 from this settlement.

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If you are a paid Zoom user, the payout is a little more. Paid Zoom users may be entitled to $25 or 15% of their subscription cost, whichever is higher. If you qualify for either of these options, you can fill out an online claim here by March 5, 2022.

Final approval of the settlement will occur at a hearing on April 7, 2022, according to The Verge. One thing to note – if you are an enterprise or government user of Zoom, you, unfortunately, don’t qualify for this settlement.

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