Zoom chat app says 200MILLION people are using it every DAY as coronavirus crisis forces world into lockdown
HUGELY popular chat app Zoom now has 200million daily users - 20 times more than it had just a few months ago.
The platform has seen a surge in downloads as the coronavirus pandemic forces people to conduct meetings and social gatherings remotely from their homes.
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Nearly 3billion people around the globe are currently living in lockdown as various governments implement strict measures to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
In a blog post on Wednesday, Zoom boss Eric Yuan explained how the company has been reacting to skyrocketing user numbers.
He revealed that the company had a maximum of 10million daily users in December.
"In March this year, we reached more than 200 million daily meeting participants, both free and paid," Eric said.
The influx of new users has largely been driven by people working from home.
Businesses are using the app to chat remotely, but it's also been picked up by the general public for virtual pub quizzes and online socialising.
In his blog post, Eric, 50, also addressed some of the security concerns that have arisen as tens of millions of users flocked to the platform.
"For the past several weeks, supporting this influx of users has been a tremendous undertaking and our sole focus," the American wrote.
"However, we recognise that we have fallen short of the community's - and our own - privacy and security expectations. For that, I am deeply sorry."
The firm is bringing in a 90-day freeze on new features so that it can deal with concerns about privacy on the platform.
It's also hiring outside expertise to assess how it's handling user security.
Among the issues reported by users is "zoombombing", in which people who are not part of a group flood a Zoom meeting to post images or memes.
The app has encountered problems with privacy in the past: Last year, a Zoom flaw (now fixed) allowed people to turn on your webcam remotely.
And a report by this week warned that Zoom is sending users' information to Facebook without mentioning it in its privacy policy.
This is happening even if a Zoom user doesn't have a Facebook account, the analysis suggested.
CBS News has since reported that the story from fuming California users.
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In other news, a report claimed this week that Zoom is handing user info to Facebook even if they don't have an account with the social media site.
Find out how to change your Zoom background.
And, check out the best apps for working from home.
What's your favourite video chat app? Let us know in the comments!
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