Nude stranger takes the floor in Saskatchewan R.M. Zoom meeting

'I hope it doesn't happen again. If it happened again, we might revisit if Zoom is appropriate,' chief administrative officer Tammy Knuttila said.

A Saskatchewan rural municipality council appears to have fallen victim to “zoom-bombing” last week after a naked man appeared on a Zoom call during a meeting.

The R.M. of Dufferin council was meeting in chambers when the Zoom gallery started to fill with new attendees.

Numerous voices could be heard over several open mics. Council looked confused as they looked at the screen, trying to understand what was happening when the screen suddenly split and a very naked man appeared.

The sudden appearance elicited gasps and shocked laughter, with many looking away. The man started to speak and pendulate his private parts before the RM’s CAO cut the meeting short.

Chief administrative officer Tammy Knuttila said she first heard children’s voices and thought perhaps a school classroom had joined to watch a council meeting.

When she realized what was happening, she took action. “…as quickly as I could I closed the Zoom meeting and then set up a new link, and even then, a couple of people came into the waiting room and if I didn’t recognize the name, I didn’t let them in.” Knuttila says she believed they were “Zoom-bombed.”

She saw a few new names enter the waiting room, and instead of admitting people one at a time, she hit “admit all,” which was when the gallery flooded with people not there for the meeting.

“We have been deeply upset to hear about these types of incidents and Zoom strongly condemns such behavior. We take meeting disruptions extremely seriously and, where appropriate, we work closely with law enforcement authorities. We encourage users to report any incidents of this kind to Zoom and law enforcement authorities so the appropriate action can be taken against offenders,” A Zoom spokesperson said.