Four years after the closure, the social media application Yik Yak can be downloaded again.
According to its website, the new owner purchased the rights to the app in February 2021 with the purpose of creating a “real” social media space that is not affected by “tags” associated with other apps.
What is a yak?
Yik Yak was first launched in 2013 and achieved great success on the university campus a year later, with a valuation of approximately US$400 million.
The unique feature of the application is that all posts are initially anonymous and can only be seen by other local users, and students often use it as campus community bulletin boards.
In its latest version, most of the content remains unchanged.
Yik Yak users will be able to post and comment on short text posts that can only be viewed within a five-mile radius.Similar to Reddit Posts, posts can be voted up and down by listing the “popular” feeds of popular posts in the application.
Why did Yik Yak go bankrupt?
The anonymity of Yik Yak users has led to reports of cyberbullying and harassment, prompting many high schools to ban its use.
Although all users must be at least 18 years old to use Yik Yak, the company prohibits it from being used near junior high schools and high schools.
In 2015, a Yik Yak user was arrested after using the app for anonymous threats.
Christian Malik Pryor (Christian Malik Pryor) was 18 years old and was studying at California State University Fresno. At the time he posted a picture of the Henry Madden Library and wrote that he planned to pass the campus The shooting came to “release my dissatisfaction.”
Pryor did not contest the felony charges that constituted a criminal threat.
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In order to eliminate bullying on its platform, Yik Yak invited users to add usernames to their accounts in early 2016, thereby eliminating a layer of anonymity.
At the time, Tyler Droll, co-founder of Yik Yak, told The Verge of the decision to add handles: “We are all to form and encourage these closely integrated local communities. We hope this will further strengthen this connection and closeness. The community.”
In August 2016, user names became mandatory, and downloads by the end of the year dropped by 76% compared to the previous year.
By 2017, Yik Yak was closed.
What did Yik Yak do to bullying and harassment?
In order to avoid some of the problems that have plagued Yik Yak in the past, the new owner has taken a tough stance on bullying and harassment.
Yik Yak will encourage users to report abusive posts and seriously violate its “community guardrail” and terms of service. Yik Yak now implements a “one-click” policy to immediately ban the user.
Posts that have received enough negative votes to get a total score of -5 are also hidden in the feed to prevent the spread of negative and harmful content.
How do I download Yik Yak?
The restarted app can now be downloaded from the iOS App Store.
Currently, it cannot be downloaded on Android and is only available in the United States, but plans to promote Yik Yak to other countries/regions in the future.
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