Zoom has hired Iravati Damle as director of government affairs in India. Damle announced the move on LinkedIn. She was previously with Uber in public policy roles in India for three years, and then joined the rideshare company’s US team as public policy manager for Central US, where she worked until May managing policy for the country’s Midwest. We have reached out to Zoom and Damle for comment on the appointment.

Damle will be reporting to Jonathan Kallmer, head of global public policy and government relations at the videoconferencing company. However, it seems that her role will be based out of India, as is common for policy-related roles. The service’s sharp growth following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a flurry of activity at the company, which recently announced that it would start beta-testing end-to-end encryption, something it was previously wary of promising.

Zoom has had a rough few months thanks to concerns surrounding the privacy of its service. In India in particular, the service has been the subject of government advisories advising against its use, and a Supreme Court case accusing it of being a risk to national security. Zoom also faces competition from Jio Platforms’ JioMeet service, which eerily resembles Zoom to the point of the company considering legal options against the Reliance-owned telco.

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