NEW YORK (PIX11) — “Yik Yak is the latest app young people are using that their parents generally don’t know about,” explains Lindy Crescitelli, an anti-bullying advocate with Peace Dynamics.
Anyone can download Yik Yak to their smartphone. The app is free, requires no username and no password. Once someone logs on they can post messages visible to any user within a mile and a half radius.
In school settings bullies have used Yik Yak to torment classmates and write hateful notes. Crescitelli thinks, Yik Yak is “encouraging young people to feel that they can be cruel without consequences.”
A threating message posted to Yik Yak triggered a police response at Long Island’s Mount Sinai High School on Tuesday. A 15-year-old student threatened a bomb attack and shooting would take place.
There was no violence, but police tracked down the poster and arrested the freshman student, he was charged with a Class D Felony.
