Wasn't there a slip of the lip by some European WT rep that suggested this a few years back?
If it's legit, I'm willing to bet it's been in the cards for a while... probably ever since WT Legal has told them that trying to hold back the Rising Tide of CSA lawsuits is a losing battle ('specially if the Org's as anxious to keep their tax-exemption as I suspect).
Covid's given them all the pretext they needed to leave it in the rearview mirror and thusly mitigate any accusations that "pedophiles are knocking on your doors trying to recruit your kids", without admitting that's the actual reason (not to mention facilitating the long-suspected transition to an "e-church", which enables them to keep selling off real estate assets to stay in the black).
Not that I'm complaining...
...the D2D work and in-person KH meetings were the two most effective forms of tribal bonding the Org had in their playbook.
Ten bucks says it's gonna be way harder to maintain organizational cohesion and discipline without 'em.
