The Brief: #Zoombombing is a new form of online trolling where Zoom users take advantage of the application's screen-sharing feature to display inappropriate imagery during video calls, professional meetings, and virtual classes.

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DEEP DIVE

A new wave of internet trolls discovered a way of interfering with Zoom video calls by reconfiguring the digital platform’s screen sharing capabilities.

With this global pandemic majorly affecting companies, educational systems, and even personal obligations; online disruptors have recently widened the scope for their mischievous activities by disturbing virtual meetings. Now, that the United States is in quarantine or is at least taking serious caution to protect public health; everyone has resorted to temporarily moving towards a digital lifestyle until the Coronavirus has been controlled and eradicated from the general public. This means people’s ways of living, working, and learning has shifted to online communication and interaction so that the spread of the virus can be as minimal as possible.

Although this quick fix for a public health crisis may be effective at the moment, trolls have seized the opportunity to interrupt these modern ways of communicating without the risk of physical contact through Zoom bombing. One of the earliest experiences of Zoom bombing occurred at USC on March 25. The institution’s student board members were conducting an online meeting when other USC students interrupted their Zoom meeting with pornographic imagery and loudly chanted racial slurs.

The video-conferencing platform is threatened by unfit users who take advantage of Zoom’s innovative background and screen-sharing features. Now, tech platforms are urging Zoom users and institutions to be aware of the possibility that they may get hacked but there are certain precautions Zoomers can take in order to avoid this from happening.

Zoombombing Reaction Memes: