Zoom Kidnappings

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Updated Sep 24, 2020 at 01:27PM EDT by Adam.

Added Sep 24, 2020 at 01:26PM EDT by Adam.

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About

Zoom Kidnappings refers to a prank pulled by college and high school students engaging in remote learning on Zoom in which their roommates come into frame, dressed as criminals and appear to take them hostage, effectively getting the student out of the lecture.

Origin

On September 2nd, 2020, TikTok user @ben_tate was virtually attending a lecture when his roommates entered the frame dressed as criminals and appeared to kidnap him. The post gained over 27 million likes (shown below).

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6867965228500471045

Spread

Over the following weeks, more teenagers staging a kidnapping on Zoom began to go viral on TikTok and Twitter. On September 10th, 2020, @BarstoolQuinnipiac started a thread of Zoom kidnappings (shown below).

Please be safe out there Bobcats. Multiple Zoom kidnappings have been reported. Please keep your doors locked and watch your back. Zoom in pairs if you have to. #BeSafeBobcats
Watch 1/3 pic.twitter.com/rf2cUUAPsa
— Barstool Quinnipiac (@BarstoolQU) September 10, 2020

Your 2/3 pic.twitter.com/q7So48AULz
— Barstool Quinnipiac (@BarstoolQU) September 10, 2020

On September 21st, Twitter user @BlayOfficial posted an example that gained over 82,000 retweets and 288,000 likes (shown below). The staged kidnappings were covered by Fox News^[1] and the Daily Dot.^[2]

They staged a kidnapping to get him out of lectures. This is real friendship goals 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/zHrFtf7URS
— Blay 🇬🇭🇨🇮 (@Blayofficial) September 21, 2020