Zoom - Managing Unwanted Guests

“Zoom- bombing” is the crashing of a digital meeting and doing things like screaming obscenities, broadcasting pornography, and otherwise interrupting people's attempts to talk to coworkers and students. It isn't necessarily harmful, but it's very disruptive. If you find yourself the victim of "Zoom-bombing" there are a few steps that you can take during the meeting and after the meeting.

During The Meeting

  1. Click on the Host Tools button on the meeting toolbar (may be under the "More..." button) and then click on “Lock the meeting”. (This will prevent any further participants from joining the meeting and causing a disruption.)
  2. Click on Participants
    1. Select the Mute all option found at the bottom of the Participants panel.
    2. Un-check the Allow Participants to unmute themselves option.
    3. Press Yes. This will ensure that they are not able to make any further audio comments.
  3. Under the Participants, panel find the person that is disrupting the meeting, select More next to their name.
    1. Select Remove.
    2. Click OK when it asks you if you want to remove them. This will remove them from the meeting, and they will not be able to rejoin.

NOTE: “Remove Participant” can also be found under the “Security” button on the toolbar.

*If the disruption is severe and you do not think you can get it back under control, click “End” and “End Meeting for all”. This will kick everyone out of the meeting and end it.

After The Meeting

After you have dealt with the issue, please report the occurrence to the ITS Help Desk and provide the following information:

  • Time of the meeting
  • Meeting name
  • Meeting ID if possible. This will assist in tracking the issue.

NOTE: If this happened in a meeting series (such as a regularly scheduled class) that didn’t require a meeting password, it is highly recommended that you cancel and reschedule your meetings using a password.

Need help?

If you have questions, please contact the ITS Help Desk at 608.342.1400 or helpdesk@uwplatt.edu.  You may also visit the Help Desk on the first floor of the Karrmann Library.

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