It’s happened to everyone. You’re in a Google Meeting and someone either doesn’t know their microphone is unmuted and they’re making a ton of noise, or they’re very aware that they’re unmuted and they’re still making a ton of noise.
Both are bad, but finally Google is doing something about it: Meet hosts can now make anyone and everyone shut the hell up.
As described in the Google Workplace blog sharing the news, this new feature will give meeting hosts “more control of participant’s audio and video feeds for smoother, more productive meetings.” The change comes in the form of an audio and video lock controlled by the host, which can be toggled on or off.
When toggled on, meeting hosts have the power to mute everyone in a room, as well as turn off their video, and prevent them from unmuting or turning their video back on until the host says so.
They can also, and this is the good part, selectively mute individual people’s audio or video at their own discretion, which is basically the online meeting equivalent of that scene in The Matrix where Mr. Smith makes Neo’s mouth disappear so he can’t make his phone call.
Also, those using Google Meet on older devices or with operating systems that don’t support audio lock (there’s a list of them on the Workplace blog) will be straight up kicked out of a meeting if the host toggles audio lock on. If the host has audio lock turned on and someone tries to join the meeting on an unsupported device, they can’t go to the meeting at all.
It’s been a long time since there’s been a Google Meet update that’s equally as conducive to drama as it is for workplace productivity. Feelings will be hurt, friendships will end. The game is officially changed. Have fun with the new feature, everyone, and mute responsibly.
