The NUS want to ban Yik Yak

Today the app introduced safe spaces


Yesterday, the NUS voted to try and ban Yik Yak from election season. Today, the anonymous social media app introduced a safe space to stop trolling.

The motion was passed yesterday in the NUS national conference

The ‘Positive Yak zone’ was born as one of their global herds yesterday. Like many other anonymous messaging apps and websites, Yik Yak has faced criticism for encouraging harassment. One lecturer stormed out in November after receiving abuse.

At the NUS national conference yesterday, delegates passed a motion that aims to talk to social media sites like Yik Yak and Facebook about introducing restrictions on anonymous troll accounts during elections.

The motion that was submitted by the University of Surrey Student’s Union, received significant support and argued that “social media during elections does more good than harm” and that anonymous accounts are used to “shield racists, sexists, and cyber bullies from campus disciplinary procedures.”

It was not past unopposed, a delegate from Oxford University’s Student Union argued that restrictions on anonymous accounts will have a significant negative effect on student’s rights on free speech.

On Twitter, delegates expressed their strong approval for the motion with some deriding claims that it could deny students the right to free speech.

Whether this motion will have any real effect on restricting the level of abuse during elections remains to be seen.