Edited by: TJVNews.com

These days it would appear that spying, hacking of institutional computer networks, and general reconnaissance by foreign countries is not only dominating the headlines but has reached a dangerous apex.

On December 18th, federal prosecutors 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, according to a report at the Indian Express web site.

Prosecutors at the US Department of Justice 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.

Jin, who has since been terminated from his position was sending the private data of some U.S.-based users directly to the Ministry of State Security (MSS), China’s main civilian spy agency, according to a report at Axios.com.

According to the complaint, Jin, who was also known as Julien Jin, officially served as Zoom’s “primary liaison” with Chinese law enforcement and intelligence services, regularly responding to requests from Beijing “for information and to terminate video meetings” hosted on the company’s video platform, as was reported by Axios.

The Indian Express reported that Jin 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, Jin would report the meetings for violating terms of service, prosecutors said.

At least four meetings commemorating the massacre this year — largely attended by U.S.-based users — were terminated as a result of Jin’s actions, according to prosecutors at the Justice Department.

The report also indicated that Jin has not been arrested and is at large in China, which does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.

Axios reported that Researchers and U.S. government officials have warned that the Chinese government might require China-based employees of U.S. companies to hand over private company data to Beijing. The DOJ’s charges indicate those fears are valid.

“Americans should understand that the Chinese government will not hesitate to exploit companies operating in China to further their international agenda, including repression of free speech,” Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Zoom said last week that Jin violated its policies by attempting to circumvent internal controls, according to The Indian Express report. In a lengthy statement, the company said it has since provided end-to-end encryption for all users and restricted access for China-based employees to Zoom’s global network.

Zoom has its headquarters in San Jose, California, and has hundreds of employees in China.

A statement posted to Zoom’s website said: “We support the U.S. government’s commitment to protect American interests from foreign influence. As the DOJ notes, Zoom has been fully cooperating with them in this matter.”

Axios reported that Zoom executives have long known their China operations carry a degree of risk. Zoom has more than 700 employees in China, many of them part of its research and development team.

In its January 2020 filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company stated its “high concentration of research and development personnel in China” could “expose us to market scrutiny regarding the integrity of our solution or data security features,” according to the Axios report.

The Indian Express reported that Seth DuCharme, the acting U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, New York, whose office brought the case, said the allegations exposed the security vulnerabilities of American tech companies that engage in the “Faustian bargain” of operating in China.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn has been particularly active in bringing cases that have angered the Chinese government, including a criminal case against Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, and charges against eight people accused of conspiring on behalf of China to harass political dissidents in the United States to return home, according to The Indian Express.