In response to hate-filled “Zoom-bombing” incidents, Maine cities have begun instituting new limits on the hybrid meetings that have become popular during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This month, several Maine city council meetings were interrupted by people participating on Zoom spewing antisemitic, racist and homophobic commentary. These interruptions have been linked to a few extremist groups hijacking public meetings throughout the country.
Rockland has already limited online participation as a result of the attacks, while other Maine cities are on the verge of changes. After another instance of Zoom bombing, candidates for Portland mayor, including one city councilor who was the subject of homophobic attacks, said the city should halt the hybrid meeting model until officials can root out bad actors.
“What I will not stand for is for people to undermine our government and impede our ability as electeds to do our business,” Councilor Andrew Zarro said at a Tuesday debate hosted by the Bangor Daily News and CBS News 13.
Rockland’s agenda-setting meeting on Sept. 6 was interrupted by racist, homophobic and antisemitic comments while other community members at the city council meeting were speaking for public comment. The city staff attempted to mute the perpetrator.
Rockland removed the option to attend the council meeting via Zoom at the following meeting on Sept. 11. The city is now looking at changing Zoom settings to allow officials to mute and unmute people rather than letting attendees do it themselves, Councilor Sarah Austin said.
“It is a few people with some really horrific ideas that are disrupting the democratic process for all of the rest of us,” Austin said. “We need to take all of the measures we can to make sure that first, our processes don’t get derailed, and second, that their hateful content does not get broadcast on our platform.”
Hallowell faced a similar incident on Sept. 11 at its city council meeting. During a moment of silence set aside for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a Zoom participant made antisemitic comments, then they did so again during a public comment period, Councilor Patrick Wynne said. The council postponed the meeting.
The city manager and council in the Augusta suburb met with an attorney to decide the best course of action for the council in the future to protect the integrity of meetings and free speech, Councilor Michael Frett said.
Hallowell will have a waiting room on Zoom for city council meetings to allow the city to review who is going in the meeting, and Mayor George Lapointe said he will have the ability to mute and remove people from the meeting at his desk if needed.
He is also working on guidelines for public comment, which will then be posted on the city’s website. The guidelines will include rules against personal attacks and hate speech, and Frett said he knows he and his fellow councilors have a commitment to inclusivity.
“People should be able to come to city council and properly voice their concerns,” Frett said.
Some officials recoil at the idea of simply limiting public participation because of extremists. The Portland attacks border on criminal conduct, said Councilor Mark Dion, a mayoral candidate and former Cumberland County sheriff who said he agrees with ending video testimony for now but allowing text comments from Zoom listeners to be accepted by the council.
“That way we don’t have to read into the record the filth that’s been expressed behind the black curtain of a Zoom screen, but we can support and receive communication from those who may not be able to be in person,” he said at Tuesday’s debate.
Jules Walkup is a Report for America corps member. Additional support for this reporting is provided by BDN readers.
