Last week, Zoom forced a school to cancel an event. San Francisco State University had planned to host a talk with Palestinian activist Leila Khaled. Khaled is most infamous for being involved in two plane hijackings fifty years ago, but she has since become a more traditional activist and politician. An Israeli lobbying group launched a public pressure campaign to make Zoom pull its service, claiming that Khaled appearing at the event would make Zoom provide “material support or resources” to a terrorist group. (It is not, see note at end.) Zoom caved, demanding SFSU cancel the event or have its account terminated. The event was not held.
This was, simply put, a giant mistake. By getting involved, Zoom set the precedent that if it gets enough pressure, it will terminate the account of someone hosting a controversial event. Now critics of any event hosted on Zoom will think, “Zoom stopped one event, why not this one?”
Imagine for example:
- COVID-19 vaccines are slow to develop, and many churches continue to hold Zoom services through 2021. Every Sunday, a pastor who has made comments such as “God damn America” hosts sermons where he calls Israel an “illegal state.” Pro-Israel activists demand Zoom terminate the church’s account…
