Zoom CEO says the app's upcoming end-to-end encryption feature will be available only to paid users in order to comply with law enforcement in case of misuse

If you're a free Zoom user, and waiting for the company to roll out end-to-end encryption for better protection of your calls, you're out of luck.

The Next Web 2020-06-03 Ivan Mehta

Context & Ripple Effects

Zoom came into this under pressure: in late March, [[a:952082|reporting revealed that its 'end-to-end encryption' marketing did not match how meetings were actually encrypted]], putting the company's security credibility on the line during a period of explosive usage.

CEO Eric Yuan's answer was to gate the real thing: the upcoming E2EE feature would be reserved for paid tiers, framed as preserving law-enforcement compliance against misuse — a stance that drew immediate pushback from experts, including consultant Alex Stamos, who argued authentication requirements made the compromise defensible but not necessarily this one.

First-order effects

Free-tier Zoom users — the bulk of its pandemic-era growth — are told they will not get end-to-end encryption for their calls, making stronger privacy a paid upsell rather than a baseline protection.
The stated carve-out keeps a compliance path open: paying customers get E2EE while the company preserves its ability to cooperate with law enforcement when meetings are misused.

Second-order effects

Security researchers and Zoom's own advisors force a reversal — within two weeks the company commits to offering E2EE across all tiers, swapping the paywall for phone-number verification as the abuse-control mechanism.
Identity verification becomes the new gatekeeping layer, shifting the cost of abuse prevention from subscription revenue onto every user who wants the feature.

Third-order effects

The episode sets up the trade-offs that surface at launch: when E2EE is enabled, features like cloud recording and dial-in stop working, so strong encryption arrives as a mode that breaks parts of the product rather than a transparent upgrade.
If the pattern holds, consumer platforms will keep treating end-to-end encryption as a policy dial — calibrated between user privacy and lawful-access obligations — rather than an unconditional technical default.

The trend: Video-conferencing platforms are negotiating where end-to-end encryption sits between marketing claim, paid feature, and law-enforcement accommodation — with public scrutiny, not pricing, ultimately setting the terms.

Discussion

@nicoagrant Nico Grant on x
Zoom's CEO says he won't encrypt free calls so Zoom can work more with law enforcement: “Free users for sure we don't want to give that because we also want to work together with FBI, with local law enforcement in case some people use Zoom for a bad purpose,” Yuan said. $ZM
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
Some facts on Zoom's current plans for E2E encryption, which are complicated by the product requirements for an enterprise conferencing product and some legitimate safety issues. The E2E design is available here: https://github.com/...
@0xcharlie Charlie Miller on x
Huh I thought for sure @alexstamos would defend zoom e2e policy as a business decision, which i'd disagree with but understand. Instead his argument is the worn out “we only want good people to use e2e encryption, not bad people”. Sigh... https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
@NicoAGrant Nico, it's incorrect to say that free calls won't be encrypted and this turns out to be a really difficult balancing act between different kinds of harms. More details here: https://twitter.com/...
@kaepora Nadim Kobeissi on x
A thread in which Alex Stamos justifies @Zoom's plan to not provide e2e encryption except to paying customers by calling it a “safety issue”. His comments regarding “AES encryption” for free tier refer to fake encryption that won't survive MitM attacks. https://twitter.com/...
@lgbtqfc Kim McCauley on x
A bad purpose like... organizing tactics to brutalize and frame peaceful protesters? https://twitter.com/...
@benadida Ben Adida on x
On the one hand, you know Google Meet and most other solutions will of course collaborate with law enforcement and don't have the e2e crypto to stop it, right? On the other hand, Zoom, this is a serious unforced error right as you were beginning to crush it on security. https://t…
@kaepora Nadim Kobeissi on x
But but Alex Stamos https://twitter.com/...
@evan_greer Evan Greer on x
Translation: Zoom will only be safe for rich people and big corporations https://twitter.com/...
@yuanfenyang Yuan Yang on x
The part that tech CEOs are meant to say to their teams in private, Eric Yuan said out loud in public https://twitter.com/...
@cameronwilson Cmwlsn on x
who says tech isn't innovating any more? the “pay-or-the-cops-will-listen-to-your- calls” business model is a new one as far as I know https://twitter.com/...
@nixcraft @nixcraft on x
Zoom says they won't encrypt free calls so Zoom can work more with the FBI. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Well at least he is honest. Only paid customers will get encryption. Remember, Zoom is totally closed source. So you can't trust their encryption to begin with. https://twitt…
@mike_salter Michael Salter on x
Zoom is used by child sexual abuse offenders to stream abuse without leaving incriminating evidence on hard drives. This is publicly available knowledge and it is bizarre to me that the default setting of many tech journalists remains “encryption=privacy=good”. https://twitter.co…
@benadida Ben Adida on x
An important thread. I think Zoom can find a better compromise than what they've proposed so far, but worth understanding that there is a real harm they're trying to prevent. https://twitter.com/...
@wbm312 Whitney Merrill on x
Sigh... this is *not* the right way to go about encryption, @zoom_us. Security and privacy shouldn't be a luxury feature. https://twitter.com/...
@hardmaru @hardmaru on x
Today of all days is the perfect time for Zoom's CEO to issue such a statement... https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@peggyktc Peggy K on x
Zoom apparently won't be encrypting free calls. For free end-to-end encrypted video calling there's Google Duo, Facebook's WhatsApp, Apple's FaceTime (iOS/macOS only), Signal. https://twitter.com/...
@jodikoberinski Jodi Koberinski on x
Looks like I will be pulling my @zoom_us account this week and migrating to a platform that isn't pushing #Fascism https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Wow. I had defended Zoom's position in the past, and they've hired good people, including some friends, but... this is bullshit. Especially right now when law enforcement is literally violating the civil rights of so many, which is one reason WHY we NEED encryption. https://twitt…
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
this dude is on a money train and he is doing everything he can to derail it https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Long night for Alex, who says that when Zoom's CEO said this about encryption: “Free users for sure we don't want to give that because we also want to work together with FBI, with local law enforcement in case some people use Zoom for a bad purpose,” he meant something different …
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
So...if you don't pay us, we'll let the police listen to your calls? Yeah, makes sense. https://twitter.com/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
At least you can tell his hot take isn't vetted by PR lmao 😅 https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
@AlecMuffett @semibogan @benjaminwittes @inlieuoffunshow E2E will be opt-in for a long time due to the fact that many Zoom meetings use cloud features, like bridging into PSTN and transcriptions. More here: https://twitter.com/...
@jam_sponge Matt Lees on x
Organised criminals famously, of course, don't tend to have money https://twitter.com/...
@ingridlunden Ingrid on x
Sounds to me from this headline like Zoom is putting a premium on privacy by making it a feature only for paid users. That's a bad look if I'm reading it correctly. https://twitter.com/...
@aprilaser April Glaser on x
i'd imagine someone with a “bad purpose” would just pay for the encrypted tier https://twitter.com/...
@da_667 @da_667 on x
This is what's known as ‘flushing good will down the toiler the minute you have marketshare’. Also known as ‘the google method’ https://twitter.com/...
@bluespacecanary Concerted Activity Enthusiast on x
lmfao at every fucking one of you who threw yourselves in front of Zoom to protect it from “unfair criticism” about its security practices https://twitter.com/...
@veorq JP Aumasson on x
Not convinced - if call participants are worried about other participants behavior, they can still kick/mute them; for rare cases where a recording is needed as court evidence, then make e2ee an opt-out feature for such cases? https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
Lots of companies are facing this balancing act, but as a paid enterprise product that has to offer E2EE as an option due to legitimate product needs, Zoom has a slightly different calculus.
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
This is a hard balance. Zoom has been actively seeking input from civil liberties groups, academics, child safety advocates and law enforcement. Zoom hopes to find a common ground between these equities that does the most good for the most people.
@rafaelshimunov Rafael Shimunov on x
Zoom CEO @ericsyuan who took $4B this year alone says the poors shouldn't be trusted with security because they are criminals. But if you pay for zoom, they'll protect you from unconstitutional looks into your conversations. https://twitter.com/...
@swiftonsecurity @swiftonsecurity on x
I deleted my Zoom E2E thread despite being right and having 100RTs because in retrospect it's a waste of everyone's time on a night like this, and they're not paying me to defend them. I got to keep that as a premium option. Thanks for all the convo sorry I wasted your time.
@swiftonsecurity @swiftonsecurity on x
Zoom Free is an advertisement for their enterprise services. It's not a community, collaboration platform, advertising service, nor message dissemination tool for public good. You're not the product OR the customer. You're using it as a novelty as a freeloader.
@sciencecomic Maki Scare-O on x
Teleconference service that nobody had heard about a year ago and only tolerated out of necessity gets a big head and goes full snitch. https://twitter.com/...
@mikko @mikko on x
Good points from Alex on encrypting video meetings. It's a really tough problem. https://twitter.com/...
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
Yeah cool, so your product sucks and you're giving the FBI access to calls. https://twitter.com/...
@bhunstable Brad Hunstable on x
Incredible video achievement. Security challenges aside https://twitter.com/...
@bgurley Bill Gurley on x
Wow! $ZM/@zoom_us earnings off the chart. Remember that $zoom is taking share from airlines & hotels. Lots of $$$. Wrote about it 25+ years ago, & somehow still missed @ericsyuan as an investment. 🤦‍♂️ Original post: https://www.dropbox.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kitevc Bill Tai on x
I've been amongst the biggest bulls on $ZM , yet The company outperformed on every metric this quarter. I expected top line growth but also much higher expenses to handle it The P/L shows MUCH STRONGER resiliency (and cash flow) than even I expected. https://investors.zoom.us/...
@chriszeoli Chris Zeoli on x
Zoom somehow living up to monstrous expectations: - $328M of Q1'20 revenue (up 169%) - ~$1.4B ending ARR - 265,400 customers with >10 employees (up 354%) - $259M of quarterly operating cash flow, over $1B annualized - Expects ~$500M Q2 Rev, up >60% from Q1 https://investors.zoom.…
@dscheinm Dan Scheinman on x
Zoom Reports First Quarter Results for Fiscal Year 2021 - Zoom No company in history has achieved more in a quarter than ⁦@zoom_us⁩ I love all of the team who rallied and worked HARD to help all of our customers. Go Zoom. https://investors.zoom.us/...
@adventuresinfi Adventures on x
$ZM First quarter total revenue of $328.2 million, up 169% year-over-year The popular vote was correct! Incredible guidance. Q2 Estimates $500M https://investors.zoom.us/... https://twitter.com/...
@tprophet @tprophet on x
30x growth in usage and 169% growth in revenue. As I expected, it's pretty clear that most of Zoom's new users are free tier, but they're landing a lot of real, paying, enterprise customers too. When your product name becomes a verb, it's a rocket ship. https://twitter.com/...
@jordannovet Jordan Novet on x
must say i did not expect this sort of explosion of revenue from Zoom. 169% growth https://www.cnbc.com/...
@danielnewmanuv Daniel Newman on x
Well, @zoom_us had a blowout quarter. Analysts weren't even close as the company delivered $328 Million vs. $202 Million expected. Hard to imagine they didn't see it coming? Zoom revenue growth rockets in work-from-home age https://www.cnbc.com/... #Zoom $ZM #Earnings https://twi…

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