Burnbook App Slammed For Increasing Cyberbullying
Burnbook, a social networking app has recently made the headlines after it became a means for teens to bully others online. The app has reportedly become famous and widely used in high schools across the United States as it provides opportunities for anonymously cyberbullying on individual or a certain group of people.
In just a matter of four months, the Burnbook app, which was actually named after the pink gossip book that was featured in “Mean Girls,” has become a part of cyberbullying cases across hundreds of U.S. high schools, especially in the West Coast.
The founder of the app, 23-year old Jonathan Lucas, stated that there were over 100,000 random posts on the app every day. Users remain anonymous as they post on chat rooms, saying whatever they want about anything and anyone.
“We have changed out objectionable content,” said Lucas, as quoted by KUSI. “In some cases, we have actually contacted the police before they have contacted us.”
“Freedom of speech is not necessarily freedom of anonymity,” he added. “Anonymity is a privilege – not a right. If that privilege is abused, there are consequences.”
Apart from cyberbullying, Burnbook is also being tied to a recent incident wherein a student threatened the Del Norte High School in San Diego that they will be bringing a gun to class, as reported by Mashable. As a result, these threats, regardless if they were empty or not, triggered chaos within campuses. Parents and teachers started to get rattled, particularly after some Burnbook users posted some bomb threats, according to Vocativ.
The app has now been compared to Yik Yak, another app that offered similar services. Yik Yak, which also generated a lot of negative publicity, had to change its age requirements, bumping it up to at least 18 years of age last year. This strategic move purposely left out its former high school market.
No information has been provided regarding how they will be implementing the new age requirements, but, hopefully, verification will be more rigorous.
