This archive report was first published on 15 May 2020.
On May 13, 2020, a disturbing incident occurred during a virtual Bible study class at Saint Paulus Lutheran Church in San Francisco, California.
A hacker allegedly hijacked the class, posting graphic images of child abuse, including adults engaging in sex acts with each other and performing sex acts on infants and children, as well as physically abusing them.
The eight Bible study students, mostly senior citizens, had their computers' control systems disabled while the hacker played the offensive pornographic videos.
According to the lawsuit filed by the church, the hacker was a 'known offender' who had been reported to the authorities multiple times.
Despite the church's leaders contacting Zoom for help, the company 'did nothing' to prevent the incident, the suit alleges.
However, in a statement, a Zoom spokesperson condemned the 'horrific event' and claimed that the company took action to block the offender's access to the platform and reported them to the relevant authorities on the same day they learned of the incident.
Zoom also pointed to its 'recently updated security features' and suggested that users should not widely share meeting access and passwords, as appeared to be the case with the church group.
