New App Provides yet another Platform for Cyberbullying

 New App Provides yet another Platform for Cyberbullying

Meg Power, Management

A mobile app released last week stirred unnecessary drama and spurred cyberbullying.

Similarly to the social networking app Yik-Yak, Blushhh allows its users to post anonymously to an audience within their community. But unlike Yik-Yak, Blushhh permits users to post pictures, as well as text posts, all still anonymously.

Within a week of its release, Blushhh blew up at various local schools, such as our sister school Mendham. All students, from freshmen to seniors, began downloading the application, and the abuse immediately followed. Just like Yik-Yak, people voice their brutally honest opinions on their peers, having no mercy on their victims.

As the torment grew progressively worse, the bullying shifted into a different direction: anonymously posting private, personal photos of girls. Without their permission, users uploaded these pictures-pictures that were put into the hands of people these girls trusted.

Not only is this cyberbullying, but this also extends into the realm of something even more severe: child pornography. From a young age, as early as 10, presentations are given to children with hopes to reveal the dangers of sending explicit photographs and the hefty repercussions that may follow. Just the possession of an explicit photo of a minor can brand someone as a registered sex offender, a label that remains on one’s record for the rest of his or her life, while distribution could land someone in jail.

When these innocent girls realized their victimization on the app, the photos slowly began to disappear from the feed. As more people understood the dangers of the app and its downright scumminess, the app was removed from the app store. Its disappearance left some of the victims with peace of mind, while others, understandably, remained emotionally brutalized by the invasion of privacy.