Sidechat is the anonymous social media app that’s stirring up controversy on college campuses across the US.
The app encourages its young users to “find their community” and post, comment, and DM completely anonymously—and it is proving to be a hit with students.
And, like with other trendy apps, Sidechat’s popularity has trickled down to younger generations – but is it safe for younger teens and tweens?
What is Sidechat?
When it was launched in 2022, Sidechat allowed users, specifically Harvard students, to write and share anonymous posts that were only visible to other Harvard students. The platform grew to become active at a few more elite universities before spreading through campuses all over the US.
Sidechat emphasizes local, campus-specific discussions, where users can talk about anything from college life and classes to social events, and local happenings. The platform’s focus on anonymity allows users to engage in gossip, express their views, and get things off their chest without the consequences of revealing their identities.
Although it’s primarily targeted at college students, Sidechat is now available to anyone who wants to discreetly post, share, and engage in conversations within their chosen communities. These communities can be based on interests, such as gaming, NBA, and Taylor Swift, or just places where people can confess or vent anonymously.
The concept of anonymous posting is nothing new. YikYak, another pseudonymous, college-based social media platform, was launched back in 2013 – but the service closed down a few years later following heavy criticism in the media over the amount of racism, antisemitism, sexism, and cyber-bullying, on the platform. YikYak relaunched in 2021 and was bought by Sidechat in 2023.
How does Sidechat work?
When you sign up for Sidechat, you’re asked to enter and verify your school email address to join your college or high school’s community – this ensures only students from that school can participate.
But Sidechat isn’t just for college students. You can skip the school email part and join communities based on interests and topics, such as sports, music, and TV. Users can also create threads for confessions, rants, or advice.
You can then choose a community to post in either anonymously or under a username – which is usually randomly generated. You can post simple text, images, videos, polls, or links and choose to allow replies and DMs. Like on Reddit, you can up and downvote other users’ posts to boost or reduce their visibility.
At the time of writing, Sidechat is only available to iOS users.
What is the age requirement for using Sidechat?
According to their terms and conditions, Sidechat users must be at least 13 years old to use the service.
Users have to enter their age when creating an account – but without any kind of verification, there’s nothing to stop users from lying about their age.
Is Sidechat safe for kids?
Although Sidechat was created for college students, it now allows anyone over the age of 13 to join and interact with a wide range of communities. In fact, Sidechat’s page on the iOS store lacks any mention of colleges or students.
Sidechat’s Community Guidelines state that they “are deeply committed to protecting those under the age of 18. Any content referencing minors is moderated with significantly greater caution and severity.”
After using Sidechat ourselves, we found several potential dangers parents need to be aware of.
Lack of moderation
Sidechat’s Community Guidelines forbid any posts, comments, or messages with content that could interpreted as:
- Bullying and harassment
- Racism and bigotry
- Joking about, or invalidation of sexual assault
- Drugs, alcohol, and other illegal activities
- Suicide and self-harm
- Nudity and “excessively” sexual content
- Violence and gore
- Misinformation
- Sexualization, exploitation, and grooming of minors
- Revealing identities and personal information
To enforce this, Sidechat relies on its users to report questionable content that then gets reviewed by a moderation team of just 30 people.
This “closing the stable door after the horse has bolted” approach to moderation means that young users can easily see inappropriate content before it’s removed.
Toxicity
YikYak, Sidechat’s predecessor, fell out of favor when it became increasingly associated with bullying, discriminatory speech, and threats of bomb and gun violence.
It seems Sidechat isn’t much of an improvement. College administrators said that “the app’s anonymous nature has fueled hateful rhetoric” when Sidechat was blamed for spreading political division on campuses.
While the anonymous aspect of the app can protect the identities of its users and give them the freedom to interact with less social pressure, it also empowers some to say things they never would if their identity was known. This is especially true for those with hateful beliefs who would face consequences if they expressed them publicly.
Personal details can be revealed
Although Sidechat aims for anonymity, it doesn’t mean a user’s identity or address can’t be inadvertently revealed. For example, a user might talk about events, locations, or personal experiences, making it easier to work out who’s behind the post and potentially put them at risk of cyberbullying, blackmail, or grooming.
Private messages
Like most other social media platforms, Sidechat allows users to connect via DMs (direct messages) and group chats. Empowered with anonymity, cyberbullies, predators, sextorters, and other nefarious users are free to target young users one-on-one.
Qustodio’s final recommendation
Sidechat is mostly used by students to post college-specific jokes and memes, gossip, talk about exams, share resources, and other harmless things – all anonymously.
However, the anonymous nature of the app gives a few bad apples the platform to spout hateful rhetoric and target individuals. The app’s limited moderation means inappropriate content can slip through the cracks and be viewed by anyone.
For college students, we believe the app could be useful and help create a sense of collective community – but it’s not for children. We don’t recommend kids under the age of 17 use Sidechat.
To prevent young children from using apps like Sidechat and YikYak, we advise the use of parental control tools like Qustodio.
With Qustodio, you can:
- Block Sidechat from being opened
- Receive an alert when your child tries to use the app
- Pause the internet to immediately block access to the app
- If you decide to allow your child to access Sidechat, you can set time limits for its usage.
