Edinburgh University students targeted by racist and homophobic abuse in Zoom meeting

Students involved in a Zoom event hosted by the African and Carribean society at the University of Edinburgh were subjected to racist and homophobic abuse after the meeting which reportedly was not password protected was ‘hijacked’.

Edinburgh University students were attacked during a Zoom meeting (Shutterstock)

On Sunday February 14 the society held an event to coincide with Caribbean Week which was called ‘Pro-Black and Anti-Gay?’ and focused on the oppressed communities and how the community ‘can move forward’ and ‘learn to be accepting of others’.

The Zoom link was shared to around 50 people to join, but was not password protected so people could join freely.

The BBC reported that one audience member said she had felt "helpless" as several people had shouted: "White power," and made racist threats.

"Horrific" pornography, featuring black individuals, had been displayed and racist and homophobic slurs had been posted to everyone attending the event, using Zoom's chat function.

"Even after being kicked out of the event, the attackers rejoined multiple times, through links that had been shared with students at the university," she added.

The event had almost concluded when hosts opened up to questions from those who were watching, which is when the abuse began.

In a statement on their Instagram, the society wrote: “For Carribean week the African and Carribean Society, in conjunction with Edinburgh Global, hosted the event ‘Pro-Black and Anti-Gay?’. This event spoke of the intersectionality of oppression and how we as a community can move forward, learn to be accepting of others, and love ourselves.

“The event however, was interrupted by bigots using abhorrent homophobic and racist slurs and threats. We strongly condemn their actions and this attack only proved the necessity of these discussions. We maintain a zero-tolerance on any form of dicrimination and this was a horrible occurrence that should never be repeated. This crime will be reported to authorities and action will be taken.

“We are doubling our efforts to uplift the voices of more queer people of colour and other marginalised groups. If you have been affected by this act or other hate crimes at our university, please contact our welfare officers who are always available for support and guidance.

“We would like to thank our panellists who were amazing despite the interruption, and thank our attendees who remained respectful.”

A representative for the Edinburgh Student Union Association (EUSA) said: “We were disgusted to hear about the digital attacks of racism and homophobia at the recent African Caribbean Society event. All Society and Students’ Association events are protected by our Safe Spaces Policy and these attendees were in clear breach of this.

“We are in contact with the student group involved and have offered support. We are working with the university information services group to discuss digital safety and how to keep our groups safe from all forms of discrimination and harassment. We urge any student who has been affected by this to get in touch with us.”

The ‘hijacking’ of Zoom meetings, also referred to as Zoombombing, is defined typically as unwanted, disruptive intrusion, generally by Internet trolls, into a video-conference call. In a typical Zoombombing incident, a teleconferencing session is hijacked by the insertion of material that is lewd, obscene, racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, or antisemitic in nature, typically resulting in the shutdown of the session.

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