Zoom Bombing Strikes Online Government Meetings

Kalamazoo City Commissioners went online for their latest meeting.  It’s a new trend for governmental units trying to maintain contact with constituents during a time of isolation and separation from the COVID-19 virus threat. The commission approved a new Small Business Loan Fund to help those whose businesses are affected by shutdown orders. Then things got a bit unruly. Maybe you’ve heard of “Zoom Bombing”. Lots of governmental units and businesses use an app called ZOOM to handle the logistics of multiple people meeting online.  ZOOM bombing is the distasteful practice of people disrupting those meetings. It got bad enough for Kalamazoo that commissioners shut down the public comments. It also happened overnight in Grosse Ile where several online attendees disrupted a township board meeting with profanity and racial slurs. The Township  Supervisor tells the Detroit News, ” Our aspiration was we would have intelligent adults making comments, asking questions they needed answers to, or ideas on how to make the township run better. Unfortunately, that didn't happen."

Sign of the times.