Exclusive | Agora, the technology provider behind hit audio app Clubhouse, says it does not store user data
- With operations in China and the US, Agora has come under the spotlight as the provider of critical back-end, real-time communication services to Clubhouse
- In the past five years, Agora has seen a hundredfold growth in usage among its audio service partners
Agora, the real-time technology company powering the wildly popular social audio app Clubhouse, does not store user data, says the company’s co-founder.
With dual headquarters in Shanghai and Santa Clara, California, Agora has come under the spotlight in recent weeks as the provider of critical back-end, real-time communication services to Clubhouse, the hottest new social app in Silicon Valley since Snapchat.
In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, co-founder and Agora’s head of Asia Pacific and emerging markets, Tony Wang, said the company does not store user data, after some users questioned the firm’s data protection practices given that one of its headquarters is in China.
“Agora is just a ‘pass-over’. We don’t store any end-user data,” Wang said. “And our clients will typically encrypt their user data.”
The California-based co-founder said that Agora only stores data related to network quality to improve its algorithm, as well data needed for billing clients since the business operates on a pay per use basis.
“But on the information level as regards to users, we have no awareness of that,” he added.