But some Internet trolls and racists are hijacking or disrupting Zoom video meetings with abusive and hateful language, threats, profanity and other unwelcome activities.
During a Tuesday Zoom meeting for the Gem City Market, multiple unknown people used the n-word and drew hateful images, said Amaha Sellassie, president of the Gem City Market board.
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Sellassie said he suspects the culprits were boys who were doing something like the immature equivalent of prank calling.
But, he said, if that’s true, it’s disappointing that people in this day and age still find racist and hateful things funny.
“To me, it’s not necessarily disturbing, but it’s saddening that kids still think it’s funny to put swastikas up and that’s how they are getting their joy in the midst of a pandemic,” he said.
Gem City Market supporters say other local groups should be aware that Zoom bombing is real and could happen to anyone.
However, market supporters say they there are steps they can take to prevent this activity from happening or stub it out quickly.
On Tuesday afternoon, Gem City Market supporters were participating in a Zoom video session when suddenly a swastika appeared on their computer screens.
Multiple people evidently used a white board feature to draw the Nazi symbols.
Male voices could be heard saying racist and abusive remarks. The video session was shut down due to the disruption.
Sellassie said he does not think it was members of a hate group. More likely, he said, it was bored kids.
However, he was troubled by the fact that the Zoom bombers seemed to be phishing for information.
Trolls and uninvited users can crash Zoom meetings by guessing or getting a hold of meeting ID numbers and passwords.
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But Sellassie said he’s confident the market will be able to shut down this kind of behavior by changing some settings as the host of video sessions.
He said he plans to use “waiting rooms” that help screen users and give them access.
He also said as the host he can lock down meetings to prevent people from sharing unwanted information.
Unwanted participants can be removed or muted and their video feeds can be turned off, according to Zoom.
“I think we know how to stop it, if it happens again,” Sellassie said. “And I think we know how to keep it from happening again.”
Zoom is an extremely useful tool during the COVID-19 crisis that will help Gem City Market stay in touch with community members and strategize and coordinate, he said.
The hijacking of the meeting was disruptive and very upsetting, especially because the Gem City Market’s more than 2,500 members are a diverse group, said Lela Klein, executive director of Co-op Dayton, the nonprofit developer of the market.
The purpose of the meeting was how to shift organizing online, which is going to be challenging considering how many face-to-face and one-on-one meetings organizers have community members under normal circumstances, Klein said.
“It was disruptive, it was distressing,” she said.
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