Zoom to Temporarily Lift 40-Minute Meeting Limit on Thanksgiving Day

Zoom has said that it would lift its standard forty-minute limit on free video calls for Thanksgiving Day to make it simpler for families to spend time virtually on the US holiday. The removal of the forty-minute limit for Zoom meetings will be in effect from midnight on Thanksgiving Day on November 26th to 6 am ET on November 27 (4:30 pm IST on November 28).

The forty-minute limit on Zoom will be lifted globally, the company said in an announcement on Twitter. The temporary relaxation will be put in place for Thanksgiving Day “so your family gatherings don’t get cut short”, the post read. The forty-minute time limit has been a major restriction on the platform throughout the coronavirus pandemic, which forces teams to restart the calls after the stipulated time.

Many of Zoom’s competitors have imposed similar restrictions, including Google Meet (60-minute limit) and all providers charge extra for enterprise-grade plans that remove the limit and expand the number of participants allowed.

Zoom shot to instant fame during the early days of the COVID-18 pandemic. The company claims that it now has close to 300 million users as offices across the world have asked their employees to work from home to limit exposure to the coronavirus. The company was also recently directed by regulators to strengthen its security in a proposed settlement of allegations that the video conferencing service misled users about its level of security for meetings.