Zoom to stop direct sales in China

US video-conferencing company decides to minimize ties with Chinese market

Zoom Video Communications (Zoom) has announced it will stop selling its products directly in China, starting from August 23.

On Monday (August 4), Zoom notified its Chinese clients that its sales in the country would soon shift to the partner-only model, in which domestic partners will integrate Zoom’s technology into their own products to provide more “localized service.” Two months ago, the company suspended its online subscription in China.

Zoom first made headlines in June when it shut down the account owned by Zhou Fengsuo (周鋒鎖), a student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests, after he used the platform to hold an online event on May 31 to commemorate the victims of the bloody demonstration. Zoom later explained that the Chinese government notified the company about the memorial events being shared all over local social media and that it decided to terminate three related accounts to comply with local regulations.

“The reality is Zoom operates in more than 80 countries and continues to expand, which requires compliance with local laws even as Zoom seeks to promote the open exchange of ideas.” the company said in a statement.

As the U.S. is pondering whether to ban the Chinese video-sharing application Tiktok for allegations that it illegally collects user data and transfers it to servers in China, Zoom realized it had to quickly take action as tensions between Washington and Beijing heat up.

The video-conferencing company has previously admitted its product development team is “largely based” in China and that it has mistakenly routed some of the meetings on the platform through Chinese servers to cope with an influx of users.