Zoom executive spied on Chinese dissidents at the direction of China's intelligence services

A Chinese citizen based in China, who is an executive with a US-based telecommunications company Zoom, has been charged with harassing and intimidating Chinese dissidents in America commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre on the platform.

According to federal prosecutors, Jin allegedly spied on Zoom users on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party's intelligence services.

Xinjiang Jin, known in the West as "Julien Jin" has been charged with conspiracy to commit interstate harassment and unlawful conspiracy to transfer a means of identification. The company in the complaint is identified only as "Company-1".

The complaint alleges Jin participated in the disruption of meetings held on the company's digital platform commemorating and talking about the Tiananmen Square Massacre which occurred on that same date in Beijing in the year 1989, and that Jin and others disrupted the meetings on purpose because the Chinese Communist Party doesn't want the topic brought up at all.

Also according to the complaint, Jin's actual position was that of a liaison with the mainland Chinese government, and he regularly worked with them to summarily terminate teleconferences in progress that were deemed unacceptable to CCP authorities. He has also regularly responded fully to requests for information from the CCP that are considered to be privacy violations under US law.

At this time, Jin physically resides within the People's Republic of China, and as such hasn't been arrested yet. He faces up to 10 years in a federal prison if convicted and successfully detained.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers had some important remarks on this particular arrest warrant and its greater ramifications:

"No company with significant business interests in China is immune from the coercive power of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party will use those within its reach to sap the tree of liberty, stifling free speech in China, the United States and elsewhere about the Party’s repression of the Chinese people.  For companies with operations in China, like that here, this reality may mean executives being coopted to further repressive activity at odds with the values that have allowed that company to flourish here."

Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, also commented:

"The FBI remains committed to protecting the exercise of free speech for all Americans.  As this complaint alleges, that freedom was directly infringed upon by the pernicious activities of Communist China’s Intelligence Services, in support of a regime that neither reflects nor upholds our democratic values. 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."

Finally, Acting United States Attorney Seth D. DuCharme stated:

"The allegations in the complaint lay bare the Faustian bargain that the PRC government demands of U.S. technology companies doing business within the PRC’s borders, and the insider threat that those companies face from their own employees in the PRC, As alleged, Jin worked closely with the PRC government and members of PRC intelligence services to help the PRC government silence the political and religious speech of users of the platform of a U.S. technology company.  Jin willingly committed crimes, and sought to mislead others at the company, to help PRC authorities censor and punish U.S. users’ core political speech merely for exercising their rights to free expression.  The charges announced today make clear that employees working in the PRC for U.S. technology companies make those companies—and their users—vulnerable to the malign influence of the PRC government.  This Office will continue working tirelessly to protect against threats to the free expression of political views and religious beliefs, regardless whether those threats come from inside or outside the United States."

Part of Jin’s duties included providing information to the PRC government about Zoom's users and meetings, and in some cases he provided information – such as Internet Protocol addresses, names and email addresses – of users located outside of the PRC.

Jin was also responsible for proactively monitoring Zoom's video communications platform for what the PRC government considers to be “illegal” meetings to discuss political and religious subjects unacceptable to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the PRC government.

Jin's efforts to harass dissidents went well beyond spying, as he had allegedly fabricated evidence to compel the company to terminate meetings held by dissidents by creating fake email accounts and profiles in the users' names with fake posts to suggest they supported terrorist organizations or distributed child pornography.

“The fabricated evidence falsely asserted that the meetings included discussions of child abuse or exploitation, terrorism, racism or incitements to violence,” federal prosecutors said.

The Chinese communist government used information Jin collected to conduct a campaign of harassment and intimidation of dissidents' families in China.

“PRC authorities temporarily detained at least one person who planned to speak during a commemoration meeting," the complaint alleges.

Another incident saw Chinese government agents visiting family members of those who took part in meetings “and directed them to tell the participant to cease speaking out against the PRC government and rather to support socialism and the CCP.”

The complaint states that the Chinese government required Zoom to install Jin as its liaison as part of a "rectification" plan that the company entered to continue doing business in China, which had been previously restricted in China on Sept. 8, 2019.

The plan required Zoom to “proactively monitor communications for content that included the expression of political views unacceptable to the PRC government," which the company has since defended, stating that Zoom "at that point in our evolution, been forced to focus on societal or policy concerns outside of this relatively narrow frame of vision.”