Zoom has been used for many different reasons aside from just corporate or personal reasons as support groups such as alcoholics anonymous or AA meetings are now hosted on Zoom since people are strictly advised to transition into virtual communication in order to avoid infection. Trolls have recently attacked these AA meetings causing disturbance and saying distracting comments.
Zoom has recently experienced a security breach which showed the world just how unreliable it is as even Apple steps in to protect the dignity of their users.
The surge of alcohol
It was reported earlier this week by Nielsen data that the sales of alcoholic had risen 55% during the one week as the stay-at-home order started to take effect in March. A comment by some sober adults have stated that most other people are being "triggered" by the ongoing memes about "quarantinis"as screenshots of happy hours between friends surface virtually.
Business insider reports that digital cynics are prowling on Zoom to attack the Alcoholics Anonymous and even other support group meetings that are being conducted online amidst the coronavirus(COVID-19) outbreak.
A recent meeting of the AA which was supported by the Inter-group Association of A.A. of New York was attacked by these trolls leaving participants heartbroken and in dismay as the struggling group fights hard against addiction amidst the pandemic.
What did the trolls do?
According to a report by one meeting participant to Business Insider, the voice just said "Alcohol is soooo good," which shocked both the members and leaders alike. The group leaders were able to immediately silence the troll and kick the troll from the meeting but the damage had been done.
The damage had already been done as most of the shaken members left even before the meeting was able to get back on track.
PCMag reported earlier this week that a now-defunct YouTube channel which is dedicated to videos that show Zoom trolling had content of virtual trespassers holding bottles of whiskey during an ongoing online AA meeting.
"Zoom-bombing"
This "Zoom-bombing" has recently become a troll's prey as most conferences and other meetings are mostly held online. Conference crashers will even pursue the internet looking for publicly listed Zoom meeting IDs in order to join uninvitedly in certain groups and cause a ruckus.
The 4chan and Discord message boards are two known host forums that exist for this very purpose. The FBI in Boston has issued a warning on Monday about Zoom-bombing as two different virtual classrooms by bad actors were apparently trolled by bad actors.
Read Also: Zoom is Compromised! Could Google Hangouts Meets Be Better?
This incident was not the first time that New York AA group's meeting got trashed by Zoom trolls. They had even already published guidelines for members to help them configure their security settings to help push away intruders.
The addiction community relies on these Anonymous support groups as a way for them to handle and fight their addiction but with these security measures being compromised, the meetings might have to go on hold. According to Ben Riker, 39, five years sober, people who are experiencing problems should "use the phone" in a comment he had given The Post.
