Beware of “ZoomBombing”: screensharing filth to video calls

The world is vulnerable to a new type of trolling as people turn to Zoom video calls to feel connected amidst quarantines. Jerks are using Zoom’s screensharing feature to blast other viewers with the most awful videos from across the internet, from violence to shocking pornography.

That’s just what happened today on the WFH Happy Hour, a popular public Zoom call hosted by The Verge reporter Casey Newton and investor Hunter Walk. Suddenly, dozens of attendees were bombarded with disturbing imagery. A troll entered the call and screenshared Two Girls, One Cup and other horrifying sexual videos. Attempts to block the attack were thwarted as the perpetrator simply re-entered the call under a new name and screenshared more gross-out clips. The hosts ended the call rather than subject viewers to the assault until they could stop it.

The problem stems from Zoom’s policy that “The host does not need to grant screen share access for another participant to share their screen.” However, hosts can disable this option in their setting or the Admin controls of a call. Anyone publicly sharing Zoom links where they could be discovered by trolls, like on Twitter, should be sure to change screensharing to Host Only before a call starts or as soon as they see the feature being abused.