Yik Yak is 'the Wild West of anonymous social apps,' law prof says
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The Yik Yak app was intended to democratize social media when it was created in 2013 by two fraternity brothers who had recently graduated from college.
The creators, Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, wanted to create an app that users didn’t need lots of followers or friends for wide readership, the New York Times reports. Its anonymity is attractive to users worried about their digital footprint, the story says.
But anonymity is part of the problem at colleges, where “yaks” belittling minorities, gays and minorities have buffeted campuses. The app’s creators won’t identify users without a subpoena, court order or search warrant, though they make exceptions when police claim an imminent harm. Posts are removed, however, when fellow users vote them down.
Yik Yak was also a problem in middle schools and high schools. Droll and Buffington say they responded with virtual “geo-fences” that make it impossible to open the app on the grounds of about 90 percent of the nation’s middle schools and high schools.
The Times spoke with University of Maryland law professor Danielle Keats Citron, who has written about hate crimes in cyberspace. “Yik Yak is the Wild West of anonymous social apps,” Citron told the newspaper. “It is being increasingly used by young people in a really intimidating and destructive way.”
