Yik Yak, a social media platform in which all users are completely anonymous and post to a message board that anyone within a 5-mile radius has access to, is built upon a concept that is simple in theory. But in execution, it creates a complex environment of anxiety and cyberbullying due to its anonymous nature.

Some people using the platform have good intentions. I have seen users try to spread anonymous positivity and give advice to those who post about having a bad day. The issue is not with every single individual who uses Yik Yak. Rather, it is with the environment the platform has helped create. The design of Yik Yak appears to bring out the negative side of human nature.

A large portion of the posts on Yik Yak are used to frame others in a negative light, some going as far as to name drop people they take issue with (despite this action being heavily discouraged by the app itself). Such behavior has been prevalent online for decades, but Yik Yak’s anonymity factor allows such toxicity to flourish.

In recent years, many have learned the consequences of posting negative comments online, however, posting anonymously saves the individual from being connected to harmful comments they write, so the target of the harassment has no way of determining who the aggressor is. The app’s anonymity encourages this type of behavior to persist.

Some are going to argue that the anonymity factor is what makes Yik Yak unique and that it is the whole point of the app. Even so, what’s the point of creating and utilizing a platform that appears to center around encouraging toxic environments?

Yik Yak was originally launched in 2013 but was removed from the internet in 2017. Only in 2021 did it make a comeback with new terms and services. Within these terms and services, Yik Yak outlines a plan to get toxic content removed: a post is taken down if it receives a total of -5 vote points from the community or if it is reported by a user.

I am glad that the people behind the platform are trying to limit the hate being spread on the app, but this is not enough — there is still negativity all over the platform, with some of these posts even being upvoted and encouraged by other users.

By leaving the regulation of the app up to the users, no effective change will take place. There needs to be an algorithm put in place that removes harmful posts without the need to be alerted by a community member. Certain posts should be removed that are indicated to be harmful through the detection of keywords and phrases.

There has to be a way to fight against the toxic comments that the anonymity factor of the app naturally attracts without relying on users themselves. Until this change is made, harmful posts and cyberbullying will persist on the platform used by students all around the country.

Grace “Gray” Reed is a freshman magazine, news and digital journalism major. Their column appears bi-weekly. They can be reached at greed04@syr.edu.

Published on March 30, 2022 at 7:55 pm