How anonymity on social media influences online behavior, harassment

John Yang:

Finally tonight, our student reporting labs team brings us another edition of Moments of Truth, a series examining the spread of misinformation. Tionna Haynes was a college student when she was harassed on anonymous messaging platform after organizing racial justice protests on her campus. She spoke with student reporter Bridgette Adu Wadier about how the design of social media platforms can influence online behavior.

Tionna Haynes, Target Of Harassment On An Anonymous Messaging Platform:

It was challenging just knowing that I really could be standing in front of the person who put a cop emoji, a gun emoji, and a monkey emoji and posted it to Yik Yak.

Bridgette Adu Wadier, Student Reporter:

Yik Yak Launched a decade ago, it allows people to post anonymous messages with than a five mile radius, and it became popular on college campuses in 2015. Tionna Haynes was a student at Colby College in Maine when she was sent hateful and racist messages on Yik Yak.

Tionna Haynes:

Before I became a student at Colby, there was an incident where black and brown students were actually physically assaulted by security. And we commemorate to say, this cannot happen anymore. So I thought, let's try something new by bringing to light some of the injustices that are happening right now in the country. We did silent protests, we did active protests during the school day in academic buildings which people didn't like, and that actually started the Yik Yak posts that happened.

Bridgette Adu Wadier:

On Yik Yak, users could post anything from Monday jokes and random comments to racist sexist rants. It first appeared in 2013, but was taken down due to diminishing popularity and increased cyberbullying. The app relaunched in 2021 and has recently been acquired by Sidechat, another anonymous posting platform.

What was your impression of Yik Yak before everything escalated?

Tionna Haynes:

So I didn't really know Yik Yak like that until the incident. I think my friends, they started sharing. Look at how they're responding to it on Yik Yak. And for me, I got really sad. It was just really disheartening knowing that the bubble that people felt, that it was safe, that this is not that type of place, is actually not true.

I think the most nerve wracking part of everything that happened on Yik Yak was you didn't know who was making those posts. So you might think you're cool with somebody of a different race, right? Of a different background, of a different socioeconomic status, but you see a post and you're wondering, is that somebody I just ate food with? Is that someone that I just studied with? Is this directed at me? I was in that protest. Do you feel that same way about me? You don't really know. Am I psychologically or physically safe anymore?

Bridgette Adu Wadier:

What would you say to your younger self back then in regards to this whole situation with Yik Yak and how you handled it?

Tionna Haynes:

I would say to my younger self, Tionna, keep going. Keep going. No regrets. You'll stand up for your students. You'll stand up for their families and your future job. You'll start seeing how you can still be true to yourself and get what you can out of this life.

John Yang:

To watch all the episodes in our Moments of Truth series, visit studentreportinglabs.org/momentsoftruth.