It s a problem with the Internet culture in general, but when you add this hyper-local dimension to it, it takes on a more disturbing dimension. You don t know where the aggression is coming from, but you know it s very close to you.
— Elias Aboujaoude, Stanford psychiatrist and author of Virtually You, on Yik Yak, an anonymous social media app. The app allows only posts within a 1.5-mile radius, so, as the New York Times notes, it is popular on college campuses. High schoolers and middle schoolers also use it. It can be used to commiserate, as a way to send invitations and more. But, unsurprisingly, the posts can go beyond harmless: Some contain hateful, abusive and threatening language. Targets include professors, fellow students and campuses in general.
From the NYT:
Since the app was introduced a little more than a year ago, it has been used to issue threats of mass violence on more than a dozen college campuses, including the University of North Carolina, Michigan State University and Penn State. Racist, homophobic and misogynist yaks have generated controversy at many more, among them Clemson, Emory, Colgate and the University of Texas. At Kenyon College, a yakker proposed a gang rape at the school s women s center.
Yik Yak says it fights to keep its users identity a secret. But it has cooperated with authorities when the posts involved threats of mass violence. Last year, a threat to shoot up Michigan State University was traced to a freshman there. Matthew Mullen was reportedly arrested within two hours, pleaded guilty to making a false report or terrorist threat, and was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $800 toward the cost of the investigation.
Yik Yak is reportedly the most downloaded anonymous social app, surpassing Whisper and Secret.
