The call
Before anyone records an external meeting, turn on the team-wide 1-hour notice with its decline link, and send recaps only to your own team.
Set default access to participants or teammates and apply it to past meetings. Restrict Enterprise Super Admin to named people.
Participants can refuse the notetaker on Zoom and through the Google Meet SDK, and elsewhere only by removing it. The desktop app's bot-free capture plays and shows its own notices by default. Three defaults decide what reaches outside the meeting: auto-join on all meetings, recaps to everyone on the invite, and access for anyone with the link.
When you need this
- Your people record meetings with customers, candidates, or partners in places that require all-party consent.
- Participants have asked why they received a Fireflies recap, or why a bot keeps joining.
- Legal has asked about the 2025 and 2026 Illinois biometric suits against Fireflies.
Worked example: one external call, start to finish
An hour before
Every participant receives the compliance email with an editable message and a decline link.
When the bot joins
On Zoom and Google Meet the bot stays out if anyone declines; on other platforms the host removes it or types /ff leave, and removal within 3 minutes prevents a transcript.
After the call
The owner has set Send email recap to Only me and participants from my Fireflies team, so external guests do not receive the recap. Fireflies' own default, Everyone on the invite, sends it to external guests too.
Who can read it
Access is set to participants or teammates, with link access off; the Enterprise Super Admin role bypasses even Only me, so name who holds it.
Evaluation criteria
Bot capture: approval and removal
Can participants refuse the notetaker?
Look forCheck how participants refuse recording on each platform. Zoom and the Google Meet SDK keep the bot out if anyone declines. Elsewhere, hosts remove it from the participant list or type /ff leave. Removal within 3 minutes prevents transcript creation.
Advance notice
Do invitees hear about recording before the meeting?
Look forSet the compliance email for the whole team. It arrives one hour before the meeting with an editable message and a decline link. Enable the pinned chat message when the bot joins.
Bot-free capture
How are participants told when no bot joins?
Look forKeep Take Notes notices on. The audio consent message and camera watermark start on, along with the Mac meeting chat message. Users who disable them must notify participants another way. Announce phone and in-person capture aloud.
Recap recipients
Who receives the recap email?
Look forChange recap recipients from the default of every invitee, including external guests. Limit delivery to your team or the meeting owner. Check recaps before sharing them outside the company.
Link access
Who can open a meeting from a forwarded link?
Look forChange default access from teammates and anyone with the link to participants or teammates. Apply that setting to past meetings. Decide whether teammates can create public links. On Business and Enterprise, use passwords and expiration dates for shared links.
Privileged access
Who inside the company can read every meeting?
Look forRestrict Enterprise Super Admin access to named people. The role bypasses every privacy setting, including Only me. Its API access and AI Skills reach every meeting.
Questions to ask vendors
- Can we enforce the 1-hour notice and the chat message for every member, on every platform we use?
- Who on our side handles a participant's request to delete a recording? Only the meeting owner can delete one, and a participant without an account asks the host or emails support@fireflies.ai.
- Will Fireflies confirm in writing which platforms support /ff pause and /ff resume? Its FAQ says Google Meet only, and its pinned-chat note lists Meet, Teams, and Zoom.
- What will Fireflies change in notice or voice-data handling as the Fricker case proceeds?
Red flags
- Recaps of customer calls going to every invitee before anyone has checked them.
- Bot-free capture chosen so that customers will not notice the recording.
- Notices switched off on the desktop app with no spoken disclosure in their place.
- Super Admin granted broadly, so private 1:1s and HR meetings are open to several people.
Products in this piece
Sources
- Official documentation
- 13
- Public source
- 4
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: Recording consent and meeting compliance
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: Responsible and secure meeting notetaking
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: How to remove Fireflies from a meeting or stop it from joining
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: Google Meet SDK for bot-free recording
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: How to record meetings without a bot on the Desktop App
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: How consent notifications work on the Desktop App
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: Auto-join and email recap settings
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: How to configure privacy settings for your meeting recaps
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: Why did I get a meeting recap if I don't have an account?
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: Learn about the Super Admin role
- Fireflies Terms of Service (updated September 28, 2026)
- Cruz v. Fireflies.AI Corp., class action complaint, C.D. Ill. No. 3:25-cv-03399 (Dec 18, 2025)
- Top Class Actions: Fireflies.AI sued over alleged unlawful data collection from meeting participants (Mar 19, 2026)
- UW-Madison KnowledgeBase: Zoom third-party AI assistant bots (Mar 27, 2025)
- Ujjwal Nambiar, Product Hunt review of Fireflies.ai (Jun 5, 2025)
- Fireflies Knowledge Base: How to delete meetings in Fireflies
- Fireflies blog: Ensuring meeting compliance with Fireflies AI Notetaker (Nov 22, 2022)