Potential anonymous app ban could restrict campus access to Yik Yak, other apps

Editor's note: Evan Ringel is a member of The Daily Tar Heel Board of Directors.

At a UNC System Board of Governors meeting last month, UNC System President Peter Hans introduced a plan to block anonymous social media apps on all UNC System campuses. 

His decision is driven by concerns about the polarization of students due to cyberbullying that he said is prevalent on these platforms. According to a letter Hans wrote to the BOG, these apps overlook serious issues ranging from sexual harassment and racial insults to drug dealing. 

Anonymous messaging apps act as “the modern equivalent of scrawling cruel rumors on the bathroom wall, except now with a much larger audience,” Hans wrote. 

Hans said it is important to recognize creating a healthier relationship between students and technology by educating them to think critically and engage in respectful civil discourse. 

Applications subject to the ban include Yik Yak, Fizz, Whisper and Sidechat. These apps act as hyper-local social platforms where students can comment, reply and send direct messages to other users anonymously.

Hans’ proposed plan to block student use of these apps expands across 17 schools in the UNC System, including UNC-Chapel Hill. 

UNC Media Relations said in a statement that the University’s IT and legal teams have been tasked with drafting a plan to implement and regulate the ban. Hans has the power to implement the plan without needing approval from the BOG.

The blocking of these platforms would likely be done through device-based controls which make it so the apps cannot be installed on University- or state-owned devices, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Michael Barker said in an email statement. 

Barker said he expects that the constraints would only apply to research and education networks, like UNC’s campus Wi-Fi network eduroam, meaning that students would be able to access the blocked apps on “consumer networks,” such as within the residence halls and through cellular data. 

However, without official guidelines from the UNC System office, any technical implementation is purely speculative, Barker noted.

“If we apply technical or other controls, it is important that we right-size them to the risk and the behavior presented, and not ourselves disrupt the instructional, research and service missions of the University,” Barker said. “So the details matter; and when we get the guidance and requirements, we’ll do the best job we can of satisfying them.”

Although the ban would be limited to UNC System Wi-Fi and devices, there is a key legal consideration in the matter regarding the First Amendment, media law doctoral student Evan Ringel said in an email. 

As a public university, UNC is required to comply with the First Amendment protection for free speech, including anonymous speech, as long as it does not fall under an unprotected category, Ringel said. 

“It's definitely a legally uncertain area, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a First Amendment challenge emerge if President Hans goes forward with his plan to limit access on campus Wi-Fi networks,” he said. 

Student Body President Christopher Everett said he and Hans have been in conversation about anonymous apps since last fall. Everett said he believes Hans' decision is in good faith.

“If this app is contributing to unhealthy discourse and then just being a tool used for hate, I can totally understand why that resource would need to be eliminated,” Everett said.

However, Everett also said because there are people who have had good experiences with these apps, there won’t be a solution that is "one size fits all."

Gerald Akwuole, a UNC junior who said he is active on YikYak, said anonymous apps connect the student body by circulating information about clubs, events and university updates. 

“The way it connects UNC’s campus, it’s like Twitter for college students,” Akwuole said. “You get to say whatever you love when you want, and I feel like 98 percent of the time, it's really relatable because we've all been going through, more or less, the same college experience.”

Media Relations said that because the plan is in its early stages, there is not yet a timeline for implementation of the ban.

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