Many social media users claim that private messages on Zoom aren't truly private, meaning that if participants in a Zoom meeting message each other, the host can see their entire conversation. But is this true?
First, it’s worth clarifying how private messages work on Zoom. Messages work exactly as you would expect. That is, if you send a message to a specific person, only you and that person can see it. Zoom’s official website confirms this, saying that private messages between participants are not visible to the host. A host can choose whether or not to allow private messages during a meeting. However, if private messages are allowed between two people, the meeting host cannot see what those two people are saying to each other in the messages.
Additionally, if you record an entire meeting or just a conversation, private messages visible to you are included in recording . Also, when a Zoom meeting participant saves the conversation related to the meeting, they save any messages that were visible to the host. In other words, the host will not see private messages unless you send them directly to the host.
Let’s say, for example, that you are recording a meeting with your colleagues or an online lecture at your school/university. In each of these cases, you might have said some positive or negative comments about your colleagues or professor in private messages that you exchanged with someone else during the Zoom meeting. Then, you might have shared the recording of a meeting with a colleague or classmate/fellow student who missed it. They could see all the private messages that you sent and received during the meeting. If you keep the recordings to yourself, the messages remain private. However, if you share the recording with someone else, that person can see your messages. This is exactly the risk that is posed to privacy . Therefore, it is a good idea not to send sensitive or confidential information in the private messages that you exchange on Zoom.
It's best to avoid sending potentially sensitive private messages on Zoom and use another way to chat during meetings if you're sending messages that you want to remain private. You should be especially careful when exchanging messages on the platform, as you could accidentally send a message publicly that was intended to be private.
However, the Zoom meeting host cannot see your messages unless you send them (or a recording containing them). Finally, it’s worth clarifying that Zoom does not track which apps you use in a call and does not send that information to the host. The host can only see if you have the Zoom window focused on screen in certain circumstances.
