The city of Afton, which has been holding council meetings on Zoom since the COVID-19 pandemic, had to shut down the online option for remote participation last week when a meeting was hijacked by hackers sharing pornographic videos.

City officials immediately tried to close out the videos, but “there were multiple sign-ins/people, so we could not get rid of them,” said Mayor Bill Palmquist. When they restarted the meeting, the videos came back after just a few minutes, Palmquist said.

“Unfortunately, we had to shut it down and just stop the feed,” he said. “I guess this has happened to other cities as well. It is very disappointing, to say the least.”

City officials have decided to stop using Zoom for council meetings and planning commission meetings “until we can ensure a secure remot

See Full Page