Flintshire council Zoom 'sex act' prompts security review

The council is tightening its security settings after the incident

A member of the public has carried out what appeared to be a sex act on Zoom during a council meeting.

The man - whose identity has not been revealed - obtained access to the video call link as Flintshire council's cabinet met.

The Zoom screen was taken over and he could be seen performing what seemed to be the sex act, leaving councillors "shocked and appalled".

The council said it will now be tightening up security settings.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the meeting was brought to an halt within seconds.

The public can watch meetings online, but they can only share content if they have a link.

The interruptions to the meeting began when a voice could be heard speaking to councillors.

'Messages began appearing'

Independent councillor and leader of the opposition Bernie Attridge, who was watching on his iPad, said he could not believe what he was seeing.

"At that point in the meeting a councillor was saying they were concerned their account had been hacked as messages began appearing in the chat function," said Mr Attridge said.

"Someone had joined the link which is strictly only available to elected members, not the public.

He said he had had messages from fellow councillors who were watching to say they were shocked and appalled.

The meeting later resumed.

Mr Attridge said it only served to reinforce his opinion that all council meetings should be held in County Hall, taking into account Welsh government legislation that they are at least held in a hybrid format - accessible both online and in person.

'Extremely inappropriate'

But he feels they should not be held in an online format only, as cabinet meetings currently are.

A council spokesperson said: "We shall be reviewing the security settings in meetings so that only designated officers can share content.

"A member of the public was given access to the link for this morning's cabinet meeting on Zoom and shared some extremely inappropriate content," said the spokesperson. 

Councillors will also be reminded that the links are for them only and that the public can view meetings via the livestream on the council's website, the spokesperson added.