Zoom Bombers

[DavidAA]

Hello

We facilitate AA meetings on Zoom and because of the open format and public posting of meetings we are a prime target for Zoom Bombers. We remove and report the Bombers when they come in.   We use all the available features to limit interruptions but they find ways around them. This post is not to illicit zoom 101 comments, it to hopefully be an online petition for Zoom to track the accounts, IP addresses, and other identifying factors of Bombers' to restrict their access to the platform. We have done all we can, we need Zoom to start removing bad actors. Please help!

Thanks

[iammayim]

Agreed!  It is completely out of hand. 

[bertwoodall]

AA here also. We are plagued with bombers -- obscene images, awful noises, etc -- and somehow bombers are able to move their images quickly and repeatedly which makes it VERY difficult to kick them out of the meeting. It has really gotten out of hand and as far as I know, zoom offers no tools or techniques to deal with this plague. Having a waiting room is no help, as there is no way to inspect or interrogate individual entry requests.

[iammayim]

What we have started doing is creating a breakout room. There is a greeter in the main room who asks each person to turn their camera in as they are let in from the waiting room.  If they are new to the meeting, we ask them a couple of questions and then send them into the meeting which takes place in the breakout room. This screening step has eliminated 99.9% of Zoom bombing attempts in our case. 

[LazyRancher]

How do you create a breakout room?  Is that different from the waiting room?

[CynthiaLou]

There is an icon on the bottom bar for breakout rooms.  It is really self explanatory when you use it.

[RN · Accepted solution]

Hi @DavidAA @iammayim @bertwoodall I'm sorry to hear that these pesky unwanted users interrupted your Zoom Meeting session. Report this to https://zoom.us/trust-form under "Report Abusive Behavior or Content". The designated team will contact you to further investigate your submission. 

More information on securing your meetings here and Reporting inappropriate behavior

[JoJo776]

We are an affiliated 12 step programme for food and the bombing now feels like a virus. It is affected so many different meetings and we always insist on camera on and a name and waiting room, but this one copies names and suddenly we are looking at and hearing the vilest offensive images possible and screaming. It then replicates and seems to copy even when we start a new meeting on a new number. It really needs to be addressed. I have had young members in tears over the images. We cannot unsee them! It is absolutely vile. 

[Monday]

Try removing the ability to unname in your security settings. 

[HowieS]

I filled out the report abuse form  but  it will not SEND???? I filled in everything and I checked the I AM A HUMAN box. Help, please/

[jpmorr]

This doesn't solve the hundreds of chat messages that get posted. I should be able to delete those messages just as quickly. Zoom doesn't allow that therefore zoom are failing the people they are supposed to protect. 

[Moonwink]

My church has been using Zoom to stream its services since COVID.  Twice in the last 6 months Bombers have broken in to disrupt the meeting with the most disgusting and ignorant content possible.  We be crazy to continue using Zoom going forward and I'm going to all I can make sure they switch to another method of streaming the service.  It's a dirty shame Zoom hasn't been able to stop these attacks.  

[JasonMc]

I appreciate this post and the Zoom response and just wanted to share my experience (and frustration). The 'Zoom Bombers' are frustrating and pervasive for our meeting as well and make it difficult to provide an open and welcoming environment for new members. We take care of the situation with some pretty good support from Zoom and great suggestions from people like the folks that posted here and I am thankful for that. My main concern is that not only do I report each and every one of these offensive users, but I have yet to receive any follow-up from Zoom as they claim on these offensive users and, to make matters worse, some of them are known repeat offenders. We are content with the tools we have and the ability to be a safe space 99% of the time but I plead for a little more support handling these repeat offenders. The power-balance is shifted more than I would like to see to the side of bad actors and not to the Zoom support side of things.

[Merrill]

our women's meeting is now experiencing bombers who target individual members...very upsetting--just speaking for myself, I wholeheartedly support 

[LazyRancher]

I'm the tech host for an AA meeting also.  I don't know if you use all of the host tools - but before we let people in we disable everything (removing the check marks) other than start video (we ask that people who come in start their video when they arrive.). Even with all that we have been hit by some tech savvy bombers who seem to override all the controls.  I try to remember that they are sick and need compassion but ...

[KateBoston]

Al-Anon member here. I agree with everything AA members have said! I just tried to attend a(n Al-Anon) meeting that was zoom-bombed by someone who lurked until just after the Serenity Prayer. In 12-step meetings, it's hard to find a balance between people who just want privacy and people who are there for chaos (or worse). If Zoom could track and ban repeat offenders, this would help a LOT--because it's very clear that most, if not all, of these zoom-bombers ARE repeat offenders. 

[LazyRancher]

I'm happy to communicate with anyone who is struggling with bombers.  Our AA group has managed to keep them managed. They still come in, but they get the boot fast.  Use the Pin feature.  It's the best.  Anyone coming in you don't know, you pin them.  If they turn out to be a good person, unpin them, but anyone you don't know, keep pinned.  When they are pinned they can't do much of anything.  They can flash some creepy or distasteful pic, but you can boot them fast cos they can't move around.  Note - when you pin someone your screen changes and you need to go back up to the top ... and return to gallery vision.  you will see your

pins in the upper left hand corner.  If someone raises their hand to share say, your pins will move to the right of them, but they are still immobilized for mischief.  Don't despair.  It's very empowering to pin and remove these would be disruptors.  Many time, when they realize they are pinned they leave on their own, looking for softer targets.

[LazyRancher]

Also, Kate, be sure your security settings are unchecked.  If you leave someone coming in with bad intentions the ability to interact with other apps, they can override your security.  EVERYTHING needs to be unchecked other than activate camera.  People should raise their hands to share and a host or co-host can ask them to unmute.  Chat should be set to chat with host or co-hosts only.  We lift that toward the end of our meeting, and at the very end we let everyone unmute to pray together.  Hope this helps.

[LazyRancher]

David - I tech host an AA meeting that had a horrendous bomber today.  Even with all the host tools unchecked he managed to get in repeatedly, put on a nasty video and jump around from screen to screen so quickly, that while trying to remove him we removed other people he was "sitting" on top of.  He also hijacked chat and managed to show every participant posting a racial slur at the same time.  I had to close the meeting and re-open it.  He came in again, but that time I was able to remove him and report it to Zoom, but it left me shaking.

I don't know what kind of tools these bad actors have that can bypass all of our security settings.

[DavidAA]

Thanks for your comments. Please report and follow thru with confirmation. Alot of our numbers are on chat forums...... but if you get a reputation for following thru on the reporting they stop coming in. Also alot of the bombers have Youtube channels. If you go to Youtube and report unauthorized recording of you or other groups it shuts down alot of their motivation

[CynthiaLou]

I host and cohost Alanon meetings and we were hit again this week and it was rough.  They upped their game. The sexual videos were phasing over participant videos.  We suspended the meeting but when we turned it back on it continued.  We ended the meeting and started over.  I'm sure we removed and reported people that weren't really intruders but the videos were over real people.  I'm now wondering how do we find the real intruder?

[LazyRancher]

Did you pin them when they first came in?  If you pin people they can't do that jump around the squares thing.  Then if they flash some smut you can give them the boot pronto.  I didn't know about that when I made that first post.

[jpmorr]

AA Tech Host here. Whenever a bomber jumps around I type there name in the participant section. That then isolates them allowing me to remove them. We got hit bad today. The 99+ chat messages with disgusting text can be posted by the bomber. Zoom fails to allow me to remove all the messages or clear the chat. This should be a basic tool but Zoom don't care enough to do anything about it. So we have implemented the following. No Chat, Sharing for the first 15mins. No entries after 15 mins. 

[LazyRancher]

Be sure your security settings are on - uncheck all the boxes.  You can disable chat completely or make it so that people can communicate with hosts or co-hosts only.  Always PIN people you don't know as soon as they come in.  Once you are satisfied they are cool you can unpin them, but anyone who doesn't feel right, just keep them pinned.  Most bombers will leave as soon as they know they've been pinned.  Some might try putting on a video or picture, but you can boot them so fast cos you know where they are.  All hail to the Zoom Pin!

[Chia-Jen]

Hi, Im a Tech Host also for an online 12 step Group/Area and have been facilitating and moderating Online Recovery Meetings and Chat Room Forums of one kind or another since 2009. 

Pre pandemic we rarely, if ever, saw the kind of disruption that we have all experienced sice 2020 and for my particular group we avoided Zoom for a long time, first using Skype in 2011 and then Bluejeans from 2018 up until the beginning of 2024 when Bluejeans was "Sunsetted" by it's current owners.

With little or no choice in the VOIP platforms available to us the fellowship I am a part of had little choice in 2020 but to move, almost wholesale, to Zoom in March of 2020 and created well over 50k Virtual meetings worldwide in the space of a few weeks and that figure grew significantly over the next couple of years.

The point being that between us, all the 12 step fellowships, we represent a not insignificant % of Zoom Customers.

What Zoom seem to fail to realise is that for groups like ours using their platform to provide the meetings we do is litterally a matter of life and death to many of the folks who access them.  The "Bombers" who are wilfully targeting and  attacking our meetings with sexual, racist and gender based abuse  are committing hate crimes and quite simply considered as that in most counties and states around the world.

So Zoom, please start taking this seriously becase as a company and by allowing these crimes to go unanswered and unchallenged you too are breaking the laws of those same countries and states....it has to stop and you need to help us with new and more effective reporting tools and follow those up with actual, high profile, convictions as as a deterent against them to so that we can  get on with the business of saving the coutless thousands of lives that are at stake here. 

[Moonwink]

I'm disgusted with Zoom!  My church has been using it since COVID and has been Bombed twice in the last six months.  Last Sunday was it for me.  I'm going to everything in my power to ensure we never use it again!  Zoom either can't or won't stop these attacks so it's time to move on to a different method of streaming our services.  Enough is enough and this has gone on for years without any resolution.  Very sad support.

[Jstrahan83]

It’s been getting ridiculous in NA meetings as well. We had one tonight that posed as me and I help co-host a women’s meeting. The bomber gained co-host privileges, pretending to be me, and they kicked all our other members out. When someone is removed from the meeting they can’t return for 24 hours. You have to use a different device. So the meeting had to be ended abruptly. I reported it but it’s been every single night for like 3 days, but tonight it was worse. And the images are highly inappropriate in nature! 

[3Beard]

I've been attending A.A. meetings regularly since 1985, sporadically for a decade before that, and all long before Zoom was even a dream.   Meeting interruptions are nothing new, but the ability to spread images and non-stop chat messages come with the advancement of technology.   What's the point?   Simple, have your meetings.   Use the tools available to deal with the interruptions.    If it comes to it, open your living rooms to a few close friends or obtain a coffee pot and rent a space somewhere.   Zoom is just a tool to help reach more people, but they (Zoom) are not responsible for the message we carry.   I attend multiple Zoom meetings almost daily and we deal with the bombers, and the next day have a laugh at their expense and move on.   Rule 62.

[LazyRancher]

Since we discovered the pin feature any bombers coming in are toast.  Some dude flashes whatever and he's gone before anyone else in the room even notices.  The Pin is my Pal.

[Kg11]

First xrated bomber last night, how do I stop them and what’s a pin? Ty