Slate.com reported in one of its op-eds that a coalition of 72 civil rights and students rights groups are attempting to get the popular social media app Yik Yak banned on college campuses.
The site allows users to post their thoughts and feelings anonymously, sort of like Twitter, except these groups claim the anonymous feature has opened vulnerable students up to attacks, bullying and harassment.
Though I understand the need to protect people and the much more serious need to crack down on cyberbullying, I can’t help but feel that this is the responsibility of the tech company instead of the universities.
Social media certainly has a near equal amount of negative consequences as it does positive. People can use social media to create campaigns for justice, like the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter movement, or they can use it for serious damage by either targeting a group, like the hashtag #KillAllMuslims movement, or a specific person.
But to take one social media app away from one designated area seems like flawed logic to me. The Internet is and should remain a free space. What people do on the Internet is their business.
As with many universities and certainly here at IU, the university provides WiFi to the students. Therefore, if there is a report of violence or abuse online, the university can and should engage their right to deny WiFi to said abusive individual until the proper steps can be taken.
Targeting the app is simply targeting a symptom.
Yik Yak, as with many apps, is more a place where people can joke around and have fun, where they can post thoughts and opinions about the place they are in. In short, the app is more good than bad.
The app is not the one bullying people — it’s the users carrying out these acts of violence that we need to find and deal with. Just as with any other social media site.
Students can be proactive, too. If someone is being bullied, or if it seems like an app is creating a space for people to become violent either toward another student or group of students, we have the ability to report it to the University. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to our fellow students to make sure people are safe both physically and online.
I ask IU to take these claims seriously. As we have seen in recent years, cyberbullying can and will have dire consequences, even including death.
Don’t get rid of Yik Yak. Just keep in mind that behind every screen name is another person, just like you.
ewenning@indiana.edu
@emmawenninger
