Are they pretending they aren't a CCP spying apparatus with this move? Seems like simple marketing smoke-and-mirrors to me. Much like Zoom flailing with "privacy" initiatives while being a nation state spying program.
It's not even about intentions. You are subject to the whims of the CCP whether you want to be or not.
No company operates from China without such influence. Some are more blatant than others (Huawei is more obviously a spying apparatus than Zoom).
I wish you the best of luck and hope you are able to get out of HK if you wish.
Chinese citizens and organizations are required by China’s National Intelligence Law to support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work. The law also protects any individual and organization that aids it. That’s partly why Huawei is a national security risk. [0]
CCP also sent state officials to private companies. Private companies, including foreign entities, have to establish formal party organizations. [1]
[0] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/05/huawei-would-have-to-give-da...
[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alibaba-china-party/china...
if anyone will be called racist in this thread, it will probably be you.
If Zoom was developed entirely within the US and didn't lie about E2E encryption or route calls through China so they could be subject to surveillance I'd be more inclined to believe it was an American company with no CCP influence.
The founder's appearance is irrelevant, in this case Zoom is quacking like a duck on its own.
Just for argument's sake, if the founder was totally against CCP spying and would never knowingly engage in that behavior, it's still suspicious. That's because the CCP can apply pressure directly to engineers (remember, it's developed inside China).
Some of the most brilliant engineers I know are "Asian looking". I don't assume they are spies for that reason (and they're not in China, so aren't as subject to influence).