Zoom Bomber Interrupts Federal Hearing On Georgia Election Plan

ATLANTA — A federal evidentiary hearing being conduced on Zoom involving the state’s use of electronic voting machines was interrupted on Friday by images of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a pornographic slide, according to a published report.

CNN reported Monday that the incident, more commonly known as "Zoom bombing", took place about 2 ½ hours into the hearing, which was being held on the video conferencing platform and which included more than 100 viewers at the time. The interruption lasted about a minute and included the images backed by a loud audio track, attorney Bryan P. Tyson — who is representing the state of Georgia — in the matter told CNN. The hearing was resumed about an hour after the incident, which was quickly shut down by the court, Tyson told CNN.

Tyson did not immediately return an email seeking comment from Patch on Tuesday.

Tyson told CNN that images of the Sept. 11 attacks suddenly filled the screen before a pornographic photo appeared for a few seconds, as did another image about the country being taken over by ISIS, the report said. Tyson told CNN that a young man appeared briefly on the video call but Tyson said he does not know who was behind the interruption. Friday marked the 19thanniversary of the terrorist attacks.

“I assumed it was just a prank as opposed to anything else, but I don’t know,” Tyson said.

Tyson told the network that the increased use of Zoom calls since the start of the coronavirus pandemic has created opportunities for access to virtual meetings and hearings such as the one that was taking place on Friday. Plaintiffs in the hearing are attempting to make it so paper ballots are used exclusively in the upcoming election because, opponents of the electronic voting machines maintain, electronic voting can be hacked and produce fraudulent results. Tyson does not know the motivation for the interruption of the hearing.

“One of those things we have to learn from and grow from,” Tyson said.