Google Meet Now Blocking Anonymous Users From Joining Education Meetings by Default

Google Meet will now block anonymous users by default, for its Education customers. This new feature will block anonymous users from joining video group meetings by default to prevent disruption in classes. Going forward, users will have to be logged into a Google account to attend online classes over Meet. This feature has started to roll out for G Suite for Education or G Suite Enterprise for Education license users. Google notes that it should take up to 15 days for the feature to roll out completely, so it may not be enabled for all Google Meet subscribers immediately.

By blocking anonymous users from entering a video meeting, Google Meet looks to resolve the increasing problem of miscreants bombarding into online classrooms and creating havoc. Students are found playing pranks in the middle of their classes by asking a friend to just pop-in and make noise or share unnecessary content causing distraction. This new blocking feature will prevent any anonymous user from joining into video meetings and also reduce distraction during school hours. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, several schools are currently conducting regular classes online. Google announced the rollout of this anonymous users blocking feature via a blog post.

Incidents of random strangers popping in mid-classes and meetings are so much on the rise, that a term called Zoombombing has been recently coined especially for these episodes. Zoom, a Google Meet competitor, has also introduced several measures to prevent Zoombombing recently. It introduced the ability to allow admins to disable PMIs for scheduling or starting instant meetings. Zoom also lets admins lock meetings and restrict sharing of links publicly.

Google Meet is also following the same path, and it notes that the anonymous blocking feature will be enabled by default. As mentioned, it is rolling out for G Suite for Education or G Suite Enterprise for Education license users only. If admins want to disable the feature, they will have to file in a request by contacting G Suite support. Once the exception is approved, anonymous users can join meetings organized by these admins.

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