While Snapchat itself doesn’t have any built-in anonymity features, there are multiple add-on apps available to create an anonymous experience within Snapchat. Anonymity features are popular in social media because anyone can express their honest opinions without the fear of being judged or criticized. Users are able to see who views and screenshots their stories or messages as well as save messages from being automatically deleted after the 24-hour period. In May of this year, Snap suspended two Snapchat-integrated apps that allowed users to send anonymous messages, Yolo and LMK, following a lawsuit filed on behalf of a mother whose son died by suicide after being bullied through messages on the apps for many months. The free Snapchat add-on uses AR lenses to create games, like ‘Rate Me’ ‘This or That’, and more.Īlthough Snapchat has some privacy settings, like selecting who can view a story or a ‘For My Eyes Only’ folder which hides posts from everyone except the poster, Snapchat doesn’t offer any anonymity for messages. Sendit is one of the earliest publishers of Lens Games on Snapchat using Snap Kit, and according to Snapchat, the app achieved one million installs during the first month of its release in 2021. The question for Snap to decide now is not just how it will enforce its terms on anonymous apps, but whether it’s worth allowing anonymous apps to operate given their documented dangers - and their potential tragic, as well as legal, consequences.Sendit is an anonymous icebreaker game app which can be added onto a Snapchat account. Other high-profile anonymous app failures include Secret, which became a home to cyberbullying Sarahah, which was banned by the app stores and later pivoted Yik Yak, whose founders left for Square after the app became plagued by cyberbullying and After School, which also got kicked out of the App Store. To date, only anonymous platforms like Glassdoor and Blind, which focus on workplace chatter and career advice, have seemed to thrive. After numerous teen suicides related to Ask.fm’s anonymous platform, its owner IAC sold off the toxic property to an asset management firm. The tech industry is littered with anonymous social apps that failed due to issues with cyberbullying. (Sendit didn’t respond to a request for more information about its app’s operations.) Sendit’s App Store reviews (see photos) indicate that is, indeed, taking place. For example, nonprofit Common Sense Media, an independent source for media recommendations and advice for families, pointed out that “anonymity on social media can easily lead teens down a slippery slope of poor choices.” The organization said that while teens will be drawn to the excitement of responding anonymously - perhaps learning that someone might have a crush on them - “hiding behind anonymity can also bring out hatefulness and sexually explicit risk taking.” It has yet to announce any policy changes as result of that investigation, but some child advocates would argue that anonymous apps should have no place in a teenager’s life at all.Įven before the Snap lawsuit, apps like Yolo and LMK had raised concerns among child advocates and parents alike. The company tells us that it’s continuing to review developers to ensure their compliance. In practice, however - as the lawsuit highlighted - there appears to be an issue with how well those terms are enforced on Snap’s end. Image Credits: Screenshot of public App Store review of sendit username redacted Instead, they integrate with a toolkit for third-party developers called Snap Kit, To be clear, none of these are official Snapchat applications. The app also includes other Lens games, like “Never Have I Ever,” “This or That,” “Kiss, Marry, Block” and others. Like Yolo and LMK, Sendit also features a popular teen activity on Snapchat, anonymous Q&As. It jumped three ranks overnight from Monday to Tuesday, in fact. 57 on the App Store’s list of top free apps. In other words, Snap’s suspension hasn’t stamped out demand for anonymous Snapchat Q&A apps, it only crowned a new app as the market leader. Most of these reviews are positive, saying the app is like “Yolo but better,” for instance. But in the days that followed the suspension, “yolo” has become the second-most-used keyword in Sendit’s user reviews, Apptopia told News Brig. Sendit also received few user reviews before May 11, 2021.
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