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www.upfrontmagazine.com
Samantha Elauf,
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TECHNOLOGY

Yik Yak &

Free Speech
Should colleges be allowed to ban
the anonymous social media app?

ast spring, Jordan Seman sat

in a campus dining hall at
Middlebury College in Vermont,
scrolling through the hot new
social media app Yik Yak.
After skimming through a dozen posts,
Seman, then a sophomore, noticed one
about herself, comparing her to a hippo.
She knew that the person who wrote it
was probably in the same room. But
because yaks are anonymous, she had
no way of telling who was responsible.
I just felt attacked, says Seman, who
fled to her dorm room, where she hid for
two days. I felt like I was being watched.
Created in 2013 by two friends after
they graduated from Furman University
in South Carolina, Yik Yak has become

a huge hit on college campuses nationwide. Unlike Facebook, Yik Yak is

completely anonymous, allowing anyone within a 1.5-mile radius to post or
view messages without supplying a username, photo, or password. But while
most of the chatter is harmless (dating,
roommates, classes, whats for lunch),
some people have used the app to make
racist, sexist, or threatening comments.
In response to complaints, a number of colleges have blocked the app
on campus servers, which has elicited
objections from free-speech advocates.
Colleges cannot pick and choose what
viewpoints students express, says Esha
Bhandari, an attorney with the American
Civil Liberties Union (A.C.L.U.).

Watch a video about free speech and its limits

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UPFRONT UPFRONTMAGAZINE.COM

The idea behind Yik Yak, according to

its founders, was to create a social media
network where users didnt need a large
number of friends or followers to have
their posts widely read, as they do on
Facebook and Twitter. Yik Yak invites any
anonymous user to share your thoughts
with people around you while keeping
your privacy.
We thought, Why cant we level the
playing field and connect everyone?
says Tyler Droll, 24, Yik Yaks co-founder.
Being Invisible
Many students love the app because
they can speak their mind without leaving a digital trail. Harry Zieve-Cohen, 22,
a senior at Middlebury, says anonymity
is especially crucial in college, where students are often uncomfortable discussing

The Yik Yak mascot

outside a fraternity house
at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill

I just felt
attacked.
I felt like
I was being
watched.

IAN THOMAS JANSEN-LONNQUIST/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX (JORDAN SEMAN);

TRAVIS DOVE/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX (YIK YAK MASCOT)


JORDAN SEMAN (left), who
read an offensive comment
about herself on Yik Yak

sensitive topics like race or gender.

College culture is so restrictive around
speech, says Zieve-Cohen.
But anonymity doesnt always bring
out the best in people. Colleges like the
University of Texas, Emory University in
Atlanta, and others have been dealing
with racist, sexist, and otherwise offensive yaks.
Colleges are largely powerless to discipline offenders because Yik Yaks privacy
policy doesnt allow it to identify users
without a court order, search warrant, or
an emergency request from police claiming imminent harm is possible.
In some cases, police have gotten
involved. Last November, a football player
from the University at Albany in New
York was arrested for his yak threatening
to blow up the school. That same month,

a Michigan State University freshman

landed in jail for yakking a terrorist threat.
Just as troubling are personal attacks.
More than 78,000 students, parents, and
teachers have signed an online petition
to shut down Yik Yak, which they call
the new home of cyberbullying. Even
professors have been targets of abuse.

First Amendment in particular: to protect

unpopular individuals from retaliation.
The issue of free speech can be a little trickier, though, when it comes to
schools, which may curtail speech that
disrupts learning. Thats already happened in many high schools. In its early
days, Yik Yak was available to younger
students, but after a number of threats
Feeling Threatened
and rampant cyberbullying, Yik Yak built
Several schools, including Augustana virtual fencesor geo-fencesthat
College in Illinois and Norwich University disable the app in about 90 percent of the
in Vermont, have barred Yik Yak from nations middle schools and high schools.
their servers (students can still get it on
Yik Yak has since taken steps to
their phones from cell providers).
deal with some of the problems at colI just know that it is hurtleges. The app now warns
ing my students right now, The Supreme users before they post
says Norwich President
yaks with sensitive lanCourt has
Richard Schneider. They
guage. And theres always
said that
are feeling awkward, they
been self-policing: Yaks
anonymous
are feeling hurt, they are
that get five downvotes
feeling threatened.
are removed.
speech
Despite criticisms of
Seman, the Middlebury
exemplifies
Y i k Ya k , a n o ny m o u s
student, took a break from
the purpose Yik Yak after she was
speech has a long tradibehind
tion in America. Alexander
harassed last spring. But
Hamilton, James Madison,
she recently tried it again
the Bill of
and John Jay wrote the
and believes the culture
Rights.
Federalist Papersarguon her schools Yik Yak
ing for the ratification of the U.S. forum is changing for the better.
Constitutionunder the pseudonym
Its not the app thats necessarily
Publius. Since then, the Supreme bad, says Seman. Its the people who
Court has repeatedly upheld anonymous are using it who decide whether the
speech. In a landmark 1995 case involv- app is used for good or bad.
ing campaign pamphlets, it ruled that
anonymous speech exemplifies the pur- With reporting by Jonathan Mahler
pose behind the Bill of Rights and of the of The Times and Wilson Ring of the AP.
M AY 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

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