Online Meeting Safety Tips

Protecting Anonymity & Online Meeting Default Settings

As many of us shifted quickly to online meetings, we may not have fully considered how this impacts a core principle of our recovery: anonymity.

To help protect the spiritual foundation of our fellowship, we’ve gathered best practices from members and trusted online sources. These recommendations will help safeguard personal identities and ensure our online meetings remain secure.

Why This Matters

By default, Online meeting settings may compromise anonymity:

  • Full names and faces are often displayed.
  • Meetings may be publicly accessible.
  • Recording to the cloud is enabled by default.

Fortunately, these settings can be changed. Below are recommended adjustments to better align your online meeting with AA traditions.

Suggested Online Settings

Note: Most of these settings are not default — you’ll need to manually adjust them.

To Disable Recording:

  • Go to Settings > Recording
    • Turn off Local recording
    • Turn off Cloud recording
    • Turn off Automatic recording

Under the Meeting Subtab in Settings:

  • ✅ Require encryption for third-party endpoints
  • ❌ Disable auto-saving chats
  • ❌ Disable file transfer
  • ❌ Disable feedback to the online platform
  • ❌ Disable screen sharing
  • ❌ Disable desktop/screen share for users
  • ❌ Disable remote control
  • ✅ Allow virtual background (This is default — it helps protect the privacy of your physical space.)

Help Keep Meetings Safe

We’ll continue updating this page as we learn more. If you have tips or suggestions to add, please reach out and let us know.

Online Meeting Anonymity Safety TipsDownload