California-based Zoom Video Communications said it will shift to a partner-only model in the Chinese mainland from August 23, as the US crackdown on TikTok continued to grab headlines on Monday.

Zoom, which provides video conference services and gained a large global user base amid the pandemic lockdown, said in a statement on Monday that it is suspending direct sales or upgrades to customers in the Chinese mainland and opted for a new model in which mainland customers interact with Zoom's designated partners. 

Zoom is a US company but most of its product development team is based in China. 

This led US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to reportedly call Zoom "a Chinese entity" and some Chinese media believe this, and the Trump administration's crackdown on Chinese video app TikTok, may be why the company rushed to distance itself from its business in China. 

Zoom said users in the Chinese mainland can continue to join Zoom meetings as participants.