As Rolling Stone reported, the app is now playing host to virtual sex parties, “play parties,” and group check-ins which have become, as one host said, “the mutual appreciation jerk-off society.”
According to Zoom’s “acceptable use” policy, users may not use the technology to “engage in any activity that is harmful, obscene, or indecent, particularly as such would be understood in the context of business usage.” The policy specifies that this includes “displays of nudity, violence, pornography, sexually explicit material, or criminal activity.”
Zoom says that the platform uses ‘machine learning’ to identify accounts in violation of its policies — though it has remained vague about its methods for identifying offending users and content.
“We encourage users to report suspected violations of our policies, and we use a mix of tools, including machine learning, to proactively identify accounts that may be in violation,” a spokesperson for Zoom told Rolling Stone.
While Zoom executives did not respond to the outlet’s questions about the specifics of the machine-learning tools or how the platform might be alerted to nudity and pornographic content, a spokesperson did add that the company will take a “number of actions” against people found to be in violation of the specified acceptable use.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Zoom referred Insider to the “acceptable use” policy as well as the platform’s privacy policy which states that Zoom “does not monitor your meetings or its contents.”
The spokesperson also pointed to Yuan’s message in which he addressed how the company has “fallen short” of users’ “privacy and security expectations,” referencing instances of harassment and Zoom-bombing, and laid out the platform’s action plan going forward.
Source: Zoom sex party moderation: app uses machine-learning to patrol nudity – Insider
It’s not unthinkable that they will record the videos and them just leave them on the web for anyone to download. After all, they’ve left thousands of video calls just lying about before.
Robin Edgar
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