Google Meet, a video conferencing platform comparable to Zoom, is getting a significant new feature that will allow hosts to control the whole experience better. Google has stated on its Workspace blog that Google Meet hosts will be able to mute and hide the video feeds of disruptive participants beginning immediately for some users and shortly for everyone else.
Earlier this year, Google announced a larger, less useful version of this feature, allowing meeting hosts to bulk silence all participants in a group video chat on laptops. This new functionality expands on that by allowing hosts greater control over individual participants, benefiting everyone.
Google has announced the availability of Audio and Video Lock, which allows hosts to mute participants’ audio and, if necessary, video feeds. The participants will be unable to reactivate these features until the host unlocks them. This feature is very beneficial when dealing with people in a noisy setting and fail to silence themselves while not speaking.
Google cautions that if either lock is activated for participants using iOS or Android apps that do not support this functionality, the participants will be removed from the conference. The participant must then join the meeting with a different device or update their app before rejoining the conference.
Host-applied locks will also apply to breakout rooms created after the limitations have been implemented. Locks used in a breakout room, on the other hand, will not be rolled over in the main meeting or any other breakout room. The feature is already available in rapid-release domains, and it will be gradually rolled out to planned release domains beginning November 1.
Source: workspaceupdates.googleblog
