When Los Angeles Police Department officers in riot gear arrived at the University of California, Los Angeles early Thursday, the anonymous messaging app Sidechat filled with posts trying to piece together what was happening: "Is everyone ok? I just heard like 8 cop cars go by," one post read. Others shared rumors about police action and outside agitators and pointed students to live streams to watch the events unfold.
Sidechat has taken on a new role on college campuses as pro-Palestinian demonstrations and law enforcement's response to them have escalated in recent weeks. Posts on the app are anonymous, allowing students to share opinions and updates freely in a way they often can't on other platforms. But Sidechat's anonymous nature has also fueled hateful rhetoric, college administrators say, raising questions about its role in spreading division on campuses.
What is Sidechat?
The app launched in 2022 and was marketed to college students as a digital space to talk authentically about campus life. Students log in with their university email addresses to access closed groups that are specific to each school — similar to Facebook when it first began as a platform only for students with ".edu" addresses.
The Rise of Anonymous Apps in the Digital Age
As students navigate the complexities of the digital world 20 years after Facebook's launch, concerns about online privacy loom large. Just as protesters shield their identities with masks and scarves, anonymous apps like Sidechat provide a veil of protection for users sharing opinions on divisive topics without revealing their identities.
Sidechat, reminiscent of the once-popular Yik Yak, which emerged in 2013 allowing users to view posts within a 5-mile radius, has made a resurgence. Yik Yak faced bans on multiple campuses due to concerns of bullying and harassment. In 2023, Sidechat acquired Yik Yak, propelling its popularity among users. Another anonymous app, Fizz, founded a year prior to Sidechat, has also gained traction on college campuses.
Challenges and Controversies Amid Growing Protests
Recent reviews of Sidechat conversations at universities witnessing pro-Palestinian protests, including Columbia, Harvard, the University of Texas at Austin, UCLA, and New York University, reveal a mix of sentiments. While some posts encourage participation in the protests, others criticize the disruptions caused on campus.
Despite varying opinions, a common thread of criticism toward police presence and university responses emerges. At Columbia, students voiced frustration over the university's call to involve the NYPD in dismantling the protest encampment at Hamilton Hall. A video capturing a protester falling down steps in front of the hall garnered over 1,600 upvotes as users alleged excessive use of force by the police.
Posts in some university Sidechat groups said students were struggling to concentrate on exams during the protests. A post on the UT Austin chat read, "This is all very distracting for people and I think everyone deserves a curve on their finals."
Allegations of hate on the platform
The anonymous nature of Sidechat has allowed for harassment and bullying, college administrators and lawmakers have said. The app came under scrutiny by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce in its ongoing investigations into how Columbia, Harvard and other universities have handled alleged incidents of antisemitism.
In an April 17 hearing with the committee, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said Sidechat was "poisonous" and that "probably the most egregious cases that we've seen of antisemitism, Islamophobia, racist comments have been on social media on those anonymous channels."
In February, a 114-page legal complaint filed on behalf of Jewish students at Columbia alleged that Sidechat was used to harass one Jewish student who had removed a political flier from a dorm hallway. Users on Sidechat shared her dorm room location and encouraged students to vandalize her space, the filing says.
In January, Harvard asked Sidechat to do more to monitor "concerning content" on its school group. According to Inside Higher Education, Sidechat assured the school it would moderate posts to ensure community guidelines aren't violated.
Recent investigations by CBS News have uncovered a series of disturbing posts in university chat forums, where individuals have resorted to using aggressive and offensive language to describe participants on both sides of contentious issues.
At Harvard, discussions on the chat platform dismissed or belittled concerns about the safety of Jewish students on campus. Meanwhile, in a UCLA Sidechat exchange, one student referred to protesters as "indoctrinated sheep," while another expressed ill wishes towards those involved in the demonstrations. Similar derogatory remarks were made by users in the UT Austin forum targeting individuals engaged in protests.
In response to ongoing protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has taken a decisive step by blocking access to Sidechat and similar anonymous messaging applications on its campus Wi-Fi. This action follows the university president's criticism in February, citing the apps' lack of concern for the mental well-being of students and their tolerance for bullying.
Despite these developments, Sidechat cofounder Sebastian Gil has remained silent on the matter, declining requests for interviews. Gil previously stated to USA TODAY that the platform employs a team of 30 content moderators tasked with monitoring and removing posts that violate their strict terms of use, particularly those containing threatening, offensive, or profane content. Users are also cautioned that posts disclosing students' identities will be promptly deleted.
