Zoom suspends US-based activists' account after Tiananmen event

New Delhi, Delhi, India

Zoom Video Communications temporarily shut the account belonging to a group of US-based Chinese activists after they held an event to commemorate the 31st anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Humanitarian China said the event they held on May 31 was hosted by a paid account and was joined by over 250 people worldwide via video-conferencing platform Zoom, while more than 4,000 streamed it on social media, many of whom were from China. The account was shut on June 7, they said in a statement.

Zoom confirmed the US-based account had been suspended but had now been reactivated.

The anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square is a highly sensitive matter in China and content related to it is regularly blocked or censored by authorities.

Humanitarian China founder Zhou Fengsuo said on his Twitter account that the group had yet to receive an answer from Zoom about why its account was closed.

California-based Zoom has said it is working to fix flaws in the security of its platform as user numbers soar with the imposition of lockdowns and social distancing restrictions around the world.

Last month, Zoom said it was suspending free user registrations in China, which analysts said was targetted at reducing the company’s exposure to China.

Some schools and businesses have already stopped using Zoom over privacy concerns, among them Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX.

(with inputs from Reuters)