Scottish Swimming has apologized after an online session aimed at providing workout tips for families during coronavirus lockdown was hijacked by online trolls who played x-rated content to an audience of around 300 people.
The video stream, which was broadcast live on the live broadcasting service Zoom, was intended to provide tips for people looking to exercise remotely and was co-ordinated by Scottish Swimming, the country’s national body for the sport.
It featured a host of the Scotland’s top swimmers but organizers were forced to pull the plug when the feed was hacked and what was later referred to as “disturbing content” was played to a shocked audience.
“Scottish Swimming sincerely apologises for the incident that happened this morning (Tuesday 14 April) during an organised Zoom event, where the aquatics community were invited to work out alongside our performance athlete,” a statement read.
“At the end of last week we shared information about the workout across our social media platforms, asking those interested in participating to log into a link that was shared publicly this morning.
“Unfortunately the link was ‘Zoom-bombed’ with disturbing content shared with circa 300 people that had signed in to the event.”
WTF is wrong with some folk? https://t.co/H92i46DF9A
Sincerely sorry to anybody this morning that was logged in to the @ScottishSwim WOD when it was hacked. Can’t believe that some “thing” out there could stoop so low. Gutted also for the @ScottishSwim athletes who so wanted to do something positive at this time #apologies
I am in disgust ? Our open invite WOD cancelled due to a sick individual. I am sorry for what everyone and more importantly what the kids that were apart of the WOD had to see!! @ScottishSwim have released further statements below… https://t.co/q5XjcEtcI6
Scottish Swimming say they are ordering a full review into the incident and have contacted the relevant authorities, including Scotland’s cyber-crime unit.
Commonwealth champion Duncan Scott was one of those who was asked to contribute to the event and later revealed his disgust at the incident on social media.
Olympic medalist Aimee Wilmott also revealed her disappointment, saying: “Sorry to everyone involved! There are some awful people in the world, who do some disturbing things, who ruined what was set to be a fun workout!“
Zoom has become increasingly popular during the coronavirus lockdown period in many countries across the world but has drawn criticism from tech gurus for its lack of security and the relative ease in which unwanted parties can hack into another person’s session.
