‘Zoombombing’ Becomes a Dangerous Organized Effort

Some Instagram meme accounts, which typically share funny videos from TikTok, have also begun posting Zoom meeting information in order to boost engagement.

“We go on our Story and post the info for the Zoom class,” said Aaliyah, 17, an administrator for several Instagram meme accounts. “We say, if you join, do something funny we will follow you back.”

But for each frustrated teenager trying to escape class, there are many others with bad intentions.

The more nefarious organizing tends to happen on Discord. In one Discord chat, a middle school’s class schedule, including Zoom links for each class, was shared with hundreds of members who stated their intent to harass the students and their teachers.

Another group discussed disrupting a singles mixer organized by a Baptist church in Virginia. “As soon as it starts there’s gonna be rape,” one member said. “I’m putting gore on straight away,” another added.

Alcoholics Anonymous, which has largely transitioned to open online meetings using Zoom, has become a frequent target. “Have fun with these AA codes,” one Discord user wrote in a post that linked to nearly 600 A.A. meetings in California. Another uploaded a 28-page document with links to support groups for trans and nonbinary youth.

Jeff, a 39-year-old A.A. member in Los Angeles, said that in the last three weeks he has attended 30 meetings using Zoom. Every single one, he said, had been interrupted by an online troll.

When he enters a virtual A.A. meeting now, Jeff said, his heart starts racing. “It’s a sense of fear and panic, but also a sadness around the loss of this place to be vulnerable,” he said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/technology/zoom-harassment-abuse-racism-fbi-warning.html