Diffusion of porn videos, anti-Semites… What is “Zoombombing”?

• The Zoombombing , intrusions of people in video chats Zoom, are booming since the beginning of confinement.
• While some Internet users are content to listen to conversations, others broadcast pornographic images or racist and anti-Semitic insults during teleconferences.
• The American platform has decided to set up, from April 26, a reporting tool to "ban certain users".

It has been the most popular platform since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the containment of populations. Already in high demand for teleworking, Zoom recorded a traffic record worldwide in April. Office meetings, distance courses, aperitif with friends, commemorations, religious offices, etc. The videoconferencing application is now used daily by more than 300 million people, which has increased in number by 30 since the start of confinement. 

A dazzling success - especially in France - which also highlighted the limits of this application: security breaches, resale of passwords on the "dark Web", sharing of data on Facebook ... The American platform had to react quickly in recent weeks to strengthen the security of its videoconference calls. Despite all the measures put in place, Zoombombing [intrusion of people into video chats] continues to multiply. If some stick to the hoax - like that of the humorist Malik Bentalha -, malicious intrusions via the screen sharing tool have accumulated in recent days with racist and anti-Semitic insults, harassment, or even the dissemination of child pornography videos.

Intruders encrusted "to insult, harass and shock"

Symbol of the problems of the videoconferencing service, Zoombombing  has become a real phenomenon of confinement. On Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and on some forums, Internet users exchange Zoom meeting identifiers which are not protected by a password. They then connect to the sessions and divert the screen sharing function to disrupt meetings, some going as far as launching incitement to hatred or disseminating pornographic content. "This phenomenon has already been growing in the United States for about ten days. And it is becoming a very worrying subject in France today, ”explains Noémie Madar, president of the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF).

What would you do if child pornography images were displayed on your @zoom_us?
Currently, there is nothing you can do except close the session.
This has happened in 4 Holocaust commemorations around the world.
Emergency reporting is a priority @ericsyuan

France is therefore not spared from this new trend. Numerous anti-Semitic Zoombombing have occurred in recent days in France. "Several Zoom sessions dedicated to the commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust have been hijacked to impose shocking content on the screen," explains the president of the UEJF. Last Sunday, while more than 200 people were watching live the speech of the mayor of the 10th arrondissement of Paris [Alexandra Cordebard] celebrating the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto on April 19, 1943, "a vignette suddenly appeared, broadcasting videos of violence sexual acts on minors ”.

"We all came out a little traumatized because it was very violent"

A few hours later, Gabriel Abensour, founder of the Ta-Shmah circle of French-speaking studies, experienced the same mishap. "A Holocaust survivor was telling her life in Nazi hell to a hundred people when our Zoom session was" hacked "by a participant who imposed child pornography images on the group," he says. I was managing the session, and I took a few seconds before realizing what was going on. After a minute, I ended up cutting everything. ”

Faced with the situation, and in the absence of emergency reporting tools, Gabriel Abensour was forced to close the session. "We all came out a little traumatized because it was very violent". He explained having filed a complaint, made a report to the National Vigilance Office against anti-Semitism (BNVCA) and tried to do the same on the Pharos platform. “I realize the naivety with which we all use Zoom, which came into our lives just a month ago. Make sure that the Zoom sessions in which you participate and in which your children participate all have a password! "

After a short break the event was reconvened without the activists and conducted in an appropriate and respectful way. To dishonor the memory of the #Holocaust and the dignity of the survivor is beyond shame and disgrace and shows the blatant antisemitic nature of the activists. pic.twitter.com/t79gXPYkIO

The Israeli ambassador to Germany also reported the hijacking of a Zoom meeting with another survivor, Zvi Herschel. “Anti-Israeli activists disrupted the session by posting images of Hitler and chanting anti-Semitic slogans. The event had to be suspended, Jeremy Issacharoff said on Twitter. After a short break, the event resumed in an appropriate and respectful manner. To dishonor the memory of #Holocaust and the dignity of the survivors is a shame. "

This malicious zoombombing also affects many companies that use the platform to hold their daily meetings. Several French companies have reported in recent days that they have been hacked by individuals who have taken advantage of it to disseminate obscene images or racist propaganda. In the United States, the Anti Defamation League (equivalent to Licra in France) has identified around 20 anti-Semitic Zoombombing in the country since the beginning of the month.

A reporting tool to "ban certain users"

Faced with the resurgence of these racist and anti-Semitic acts, the UEJF challenged the American platform, and demanded the establishment of an emergency reporting tool to stop the dissemination of content of this nature. “The company Zoom cannot tolerate the application being used for the promotion of criminal and hateful content. Especially in the context of confinement, where the Zoom platform, initially intended for professional use, has become a real vector of social bond ”, explains Noémie Madar, the president of the association.

With regard to law, the host can be held responsible for the content disseminated on its platform. Article 7 of the Law for Confidence in the Digital Economy (LCEN) of 2004 provides for the obligation for a platform to set up a reporting device in order to “promptly inform public authorities of illegal content of this nature " "Online platforms are responsible for the content they disseminate, it is up to them to implement a policy of moderation", also reminds the UEJF.

Faced with the upsurge in child pornography and anti-Semitic #zoombombing, the UEJF demands the establishment of an emergency reporting tool on @zoom_us # COVID19 pic.twitter.com/VZgsG3vnz0

"We take this problem very seriously," said Loïc Rousseau, president of Zoom France. “A list of tutorials has been put in place to teach Zoom users how to protect themselves against such intrusions. We have simplified the security settings to make them more intuitive. And it is possible to set up access codes to lock the meeting room, a waiting room offers the possibility of filtering guests and it is now easier to report trolls because we can "flag" individuals "

The videoconferencing service also announced this week the implementation, from Sunday, April 26, of a reporting tool to ban users who abuse this practice."This functionality will generate a report that will be sent to the Zoom Trust and Safety team, which will assess any malicious use of the platform and block the user if necessary," said Zoom US on its site.

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• By the Web
• Application
• Coronavirus
• Antisemitism
• Racism
• Telework
• Porn
• Child pornography
• Platform
• Confinement