Fizz, the anonymous college-centered social media app, has reached Bryn Mawr, and the company has decided that Haverford and Bryn Mawr will share a server, unlike most colleges, which have individual Fizz servers.
Hundreds of users from both colleges have flocked to the app to share inside jokes, memes, Bi-Co comparisons, and commentary on campus life. When posting on Fizz, individuals have the option to categorize their comments under any of the following categories: Question, Confession, Crush, DM ME, Event, PSA, Shoutout, Dub, RIP, Meme, Video, and Lost & Found.
The Bi-Co News spoke with two student users of the app. In line with the premise of the site, both students chose to stay anonymous.
Both expressed positive feelings of the app, one saying, “I like seeing what other people are saying…the anonymity really allows people to be personal with it. I don’t think there’s anything that needs to be added.”
The students expressed that they feel Fizz increases connection on campus and in the Bi-Co. One Fizz user said, “It definitely has influenced campus life and interactions, as it is how a lot of campus news spreads.”
While the Bi-Co reception to the app seems to have been generally positive, Fizz has not always proven to be the innocent, connection-building platform it claims to be. Leaked posts from other school communities highlight potential concerns with anonymity, including the risk of harmful or offensive content spreading.
One Vermont high school saw its Fizz account removed within 48 hours of its launch after it devolved into a cesspool of bullying. Students posted pictures ridiculing classmates for their appearances and disabilities. Rumors were also spread around the app, accusing school staff of misconduct. Unfortunately, similar incidents are commonplace at the high schools and universities across the country which have added the app. Colleges, including the University of North Carolina system, have begun making moves to ban Fizz and other similar anonymous posting sites over concerns for student wellbeing.
And these posts may not be as anonymous as the students making them believe. In the past, concerns have been raised about just how private Fizz really is. In 2022, a group of student hackers from Stanford University allegedly accessed the database storing a plethora of users’ personal information, including email addresses and phone numbers. The alleged hackers were able to connect personally identifying information back to individual posters. The students notified Fizz of the security vulnerability shortly after discovering it.
Fizz, reportedly, initially thanked the students for notifying them and promised to fix the vulnerability. But just hours later, the company’s lawyers reportedly sent them a letter threatening criminal and civil charges if they spoke publicly about the issue. While Fizz did fix the vulnerability, the company’s response to the good-faith disclosure raises questions for many about the company’s willingness to take accountability for serious cybersecurity and privacy concerns.
The Bi-Co Fizz server is currently free of issues like these, though it remains to be seen how student use of the app will develop in the coming semester.
