I-Team: Anti-Semitic Zoombombing On The Rise

BOSTON (CBS) - People intent on spreading hate-filled symbols and words are finding new ways to do it online.

Messages and symbols of hate have made their way into schools, religious services and funerals – including the Zoom funeral for Dana Brown's mother. "Somebody came onto the screen when people were watching my mother's funeral and put onto the screen swastikas and SS lightning bolts," Brown said.

Robert Trestan is the executive director of the Boston office of the Anti-Defamation League. "Zoombombing has been a nationwide problem for the better part of a year," Trestan said. "The extremists, the haters, they have always adapted to technology."

In Massachusetts the Anti-Defamation League recorded nearly a dozen anti-Semitic video conferencing attacks. One of the worst happened during a Jewish youth group virtual meeting in Newton, when a man got on the Zoom meeting and removed his shirt revealing a swastika tattoo on his chest.

Trestan says they were able to identify him as a well known Nazi extremist. "He was not afraid to be outed," Trestan said. "He did it with a sense of pride."

Nationally, preliminary data from the Center on Extremism shows a disturbing uptick in anti-Jewish hate on multiple platforms and social media sites.

"There's a high bar of responsibility on all of us," Trestan said. "On the schools, on the government, and on the companies that provide these platforms to provide safety, and to provide us with space that is free of hate."

To report hateful content on social media platforms visit: www.adl.org