Cork Uni Law Society’s virtual debate final flooded with porn

‘Videos of naked men and men masturbating’ appeared on-screen during Arthur Cox-sponsored Zoom call

A virtual law society debate was thrown into chaos after reportedly being flooded with pornographic material.

University College Cork’s Law Society was hosting the final of a debate contest on Zoom, for about 20 participants, when “videos of naked men and men masturbating” appeared on screen momentarily, The Times reports.

UCC said it is investigating the incident involving its student law society.

One of the participants on the call said the incident occurred 40 minutes into the virtual debate, which was sponsored by Irish law firm Arthur Cox.

“All of a sudden there was a big loud noise — we all thought it was someone who was being rude playing music who was already on the call,” they said. “The next thing these videos of naked men and men masturbating appeared on the screen. Everyone stayed on the call for what now seems too long, I think because we were all so shocked by it.”

A debate speaker attempted to restart the contest but the call was interrupted again by porn. The participants then moved to a new online meeting room.

A UCC spokesperson said: “UCC’s Societies Guild is aware of an alleged incident and is looking into the matter. UCC has provided advice on the use of video collaboration platforms along with online community guidelines that aim to provide a safe space for all participants. UCC will use any findings from this incident to improve our IT security awareness sessions.”

The perils of video-conferencing were exposed earlier this week when a top US legal commentator was suspended from his job at the New Yorker for allegedly masturbating during a Zoom call. Jeffrey Toobin has apologised for the “embarrassingly stupid mistake”.

Arthur Cox has been approached for comment.