At the click of a button, students can cut their feed and block everyone from hearing or seeing them.
What if these features were only superficial? Many fear that deactivation does nothing more than adding a little symbol to your screen, especially in the classroom. A viral TikTok of an online student seemed to prove everyone’s fears of fake mute features, but is this evidence or a hoax?
Does mute on Zoom actually work?
What Is Zoom?
Zoom is a platform for online meetings that became very popular through the switch to online learning and remote working. It allows for large, online group video chats and is an amazing resource for educational institutes and offices.
Users are free to share their webcams and microphones for interacting with one another. They may also choose to block these features and, instead, upload a picture or use the chats feature. Some people feel that these substitutes help participants get away with not paying attention.
Theoretically, remote learning makes it easier than ever for students to watch TV during class or blatantly play on their phones during meetings. There is a lot of debate whether students exploit this freedom or thrive with having more control and privacy over their educational setting.
Despite being a popular educational tool, Zoom is no stranger to controversy.
There were tons of rumors about the platform circulating the internet: stories of insecure systems being vulnerable to inappropriate cyberattacks and apparent evidence that teachers could spy on you. Many confirmed that the hacker attacks were real and a problem where malicious users broke into private rooms and streamed offensive media, or Zoombombing.
As for spying, a TikTok user went viral when he claimed to find evidence teachers were always listening and watching…
Were the Viral TikToks Fake?
Several popular TikToks uploaded by shokshooter seem to suggest that manually cutting the webcam and mic through the app doesn’t stop teachers from seeing and hearing you. The user, who calls himself the “Mic Mute Man,” garnered 1.4 million followers and tens of millions of views with his stunts to test the system.
While allegedly participating in online lectures, he records his classes while being muted and having his camera shut off. He “tests” whether or not the instructors respond to things they should not be able to see or hear.
In one video, he holds up a piece of paper with a question written on it to a teacher who subsequently answers the question. In another video, he calls out to a teacher calling her “mom” while allegedly muted, documenting how she seems to respond.
After calling the instructors out, they simply said they needed to head on to another class or weren’t allowed to discuss the matter.
These videos sparked outrage for students who now feel paranoid over the potential privacy concerns of online classes.
Although these videos garnered quite a lot of attention, they are fake.
The “hosts” in Zoom meetings, whether it be a teacher or boss, cannot see or hear you if you set yourself to muted and turn off your camera. If you don’t trust the software, you can look at some clues the videos are fake from a hardware perspective.
He is using a Mac laptop that designers hardwire to light up whenever the video feed is on. This popular computer feature suggests that they can’t see it and the events uploaded are either staged or somehow fabricated.
Can Teachers Listen to You When You Mute Your Feed?
Zoom does not allow users to spy on participants, but that does not mean every app works this way. Some services may very well find ways to spy on other users. Normally, features on a reputable app or platform can’t just turn on your microphone or camera.
More often, services use different techniques to monitor whether or not you are active while the app is open. If you have a meeting where instructors expect you to pay attention and do nothing else besides watch and listen, constantly typing away on your keyboard indicates users did other things on their computer.
Likewise, if the instructor expects you to type notes or work on essays but your activity is minimal, they have some reason to think not everyone did as instructed. Of course, people can always argue that they took notes on their laptops (or offline) to explain things like this.
While Zoom does have hidden private chats for users, be aware that some apps may allow hosts to go through those logs. Always familiarize yourself with the rules of new platforms or apps your institution uses. Since the pandemic, many new educational platforms entered the market.
Can Teachers Use Zoom to Monitor You?
Many classes require you to turn on those cameras and actively participate in Zoom meetings. This live feedback is an effective way for teachers to monitor a class. Be aware that many teachers adapted to an online space and learned how to recognize the signs of a distracted student or class clown (even through a computer screen).
Just remember that Zoom is not the only application educators have.
Should I Trust Zoom?
You don’t need to worry about Zoom secretly leaking your conversations or video feed to other users as long as you have your feedback shut off. However, Zoom is not the most secure platform available for online meetings.
At the beginning of distance learning and lockdown measures, limited resources meant that Zoom was the best option out there; however, this is no longer the case.
Many schools and companies decided to switch to other services that have better security measures and more effective tools. These other resources may allow some sort of spying, so always educate yourself about the applications you use. It’s easy to skip reading the terms and conditions, but there’s often information you should know about.
