Federal prosecutors have filed charges against Zoom executive Julien Jin on behalf of the United States of America, accusing him of orchestrating a conspiracy to harass and suspend the video conferencing accounts of users speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party. The case adds to mounting concerns over the role of tech companies in policing what can and can’t be said, and is just the latest example of company employees abusing internal tools to assist in illegal manipulation campaigns.
Previously, the Justice Department charged two former Twitter employees for accepting payment from Saudi Arabia to spy on users. In another instance this July, a 17-year-old American hacker gained access to the Twitter accounts of several notable users (including Elon Musk) to execute a crypto scam.
In a novel case, federal prosecutors on Friday brought criminal charges against an executive at Zoom, the videoconferencing company, accusing him of engaging in a conspiracy to disrupt and censor video meetings commemorating one of the most politically sensitive events in China.
The New York Times
This kind of thing is becoming all too common. These days everything you see and hear has been manipulated by thousands of malicious organizations before it ever reaches you.
Prosecutors said the executive, Xinjiang Jin, who is based in China, fabricated reasons to suspend accounts of people in New York who were hosting memorials on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and coordinated with Chinese officials to identify potentially problematic meetings.
The New York Times
What reasons could they possibly fabricate to shut down Zoom meetings about the massacre, hosted by people in the United States?
He is accused of working with others to log into the video meetings under aliases using profile pictures that related to terrorism or child pornography. Afterward, Mr. Jin would report the meetings for violating terms of service, prosecutors said.
The New York Times
Niiiiiice. Reminds me of TSLAQ.
