We're back from our break, more powerful than ever, and maybe even strong enough to talk about anonymous social media and whether it's good or bad (or, perhaps, it's not that simple). Amanda writes a book report, Iz grades a book report, we both reminisce about being anonymous teenagers on the internet. Also: oh, hey YikYak, we thought you were dead.

Sources:

Instagram is toxic for teen girls (WSJ): https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739

Yik Yak background (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/28/yik-yak-shuts-down-after-square-paid-1-million-for-its-engineers/

Yik Yak Hack (Motherboard): https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kbnna/anonymous-social-media-app-yik-yak-exposed-users-precise-locations

Sidechat buys Yik Yak (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/16/anonymous-app-sidechat-picks-up-rival-yik-yak-and-users-arent-happy/

Sidechat (NYT): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/style/sidechat-app-college.html

Formspring (NYT):

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/06formspring.html

Fizz (TechCrunch):

https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/04/fizz-app-college-stanford-social/

EFF on Anonymity: https://www.eff.org/issues/anonymity

Age verification laws (TechCrunch):

https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/14/pornhub-disables-access-in-texas-due-to-age-verification-law/

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About Us

Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude Productions, an independent podcast collective and production studio.