Zoom has recently stated that they would lift their standard 40-minute limit on free video calls on Thanksgiving Day to make it more simple for families for spending time virtually on US holiday. The removal of this will be effective from midnight on 26th November, Thanksgiving Day to 6am ET on 27th November.
The forty-minute time limit will be globally lifted according to the Company’s announcement on twitter. The post says that temporary relaxation will be put in place for Thanksgiving Day “so your family gatherings don’t cut short”. The time limit has been a major restriction on the platform throughout the Covid-19 pandemic that forces teams to restart the calls after the stipulated time.
The competitors of Zoom have imposed the same restrictions which includes Google Meet and other providers charge extra for enterprise-grade plans which removes the limit and increase the number of participants allowed.
Zoom shot to instant fame during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company claims that they now have close to 300 million users as offices around the world have asked their employees to work from home to limit the exposure to Covid-19. Recently, the company was directed by regulators for strengthening its security in a proposed settlement of allegations that the service of video conferencing misled users about the level of security for meetings.