About: Sarahah (app), Zain Al-Abidin Tawfiq (Saudi Arabian app developer)
Media: Apple App and Google Play app stores, smart phone apps
Industry: Web and app development
Laws or Legal Case: Katrina Collins and her petition signers on Change.org vs. Google, Apple, and Sarahah app developer Zain Al-Abidin Tawfiq – Facilitating Cyberbullying – Going against Apple App Store and Google Play corporate policies
Website: BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43174619
Description:
In early 2017, Saudi Arabian app developer, Zain Al-Abidin Tawfiq, launched an messaging app for smartphones called Sarahah, which translates to the Arabic word for honesty, on the Apple App and Google Play digital stores. The app became a nearly overnight success and climbed to the top of Apple App Store’s charts in more than 30 countries by July 2017 (Cassin).
Tawfiq said the purpose of creating his app was to give people a platform to anonymously send constructive criticism to other people on the app (Khalaf). The app was originally intended for users 17 and over and made with the hope of providing a safe space for adults to send and receive feedback that might give them an avenue for self-improvement; however some teenagers and preteens took to the app and began using it as a tool to send anonymous hateful messages to one another (Murphy).
Hateful anonymous messages eventually reached Australian woman Katrina Collins’ 13-year-old daughter. One unknown user sent a message that wrote, “[Collins’ daughter] is such a [B-word], she makes everyone hurt and I hope SHE KILLS HERSELF. Seriously no one would care.” The hurtful message inspired Collins to create a petition on Change.org asking Apple and Google to remove the Sarahah app from their stores because it could be used to facilitate cyberbullying amongst children and teens (Cassin).
Legal Issue at Stake:
By February 2018, the petition on Change.org, which was titled “Ban apps like Sarahah where my daughter was told to “KILL HERSELF,” gained close to 470,000 signatures. Apple and Google responded by banning the Sarahah app from their stores. Apparently the app went against App Store and Google Play policies, which are strictly “against apps that facilitate bullying, harassment, or self-harm.” Katrina Collins, the creator of the petition, asked “Why then is Sarahah still available on these platforms?” in the description of her petition (“Ban apps”).
The app was unavailable on the Apple App and Google Play stores until 2019, when it made a comeback on Google Play, but with new software added that would protect users from anonymous hate (Khalaf; Murphy). When Tawfiq’s app was banned from the stores, he called the incident “unfortunate” but said he was “optimistic about reaching a favourable understanding with them soon” and promised to upgrade the artificial intelligence system that was used to filter out abusive and offensive messages (Khalaf).
Tawfiq is eager to protect the app’s mission of providing a safe space for honest comments and protecting users from abuse. Some were happy to see the upgraded app back on the store, like Pallavi Pareek, managing partner of Ungender, an India-based organization working to address gender inequality at the workplace. “She said: ‘Sexual harassment directly affects absences and attrition of women in the workplace but the fear of losing the hard found job discourages women from talking about it openly. Sarahah opened up a safe avenue for women to ask questions about workplace sexual harassment issues which (before the #metoo movement) was not a common topic of discussion’” (Murphy).
Case Study [Main Points]:
- In early 2017, Saudi Arabian app developer, Zain Al-Abidin Tawfiq, launched an anonymous messaging app for smartphones called Sarahah (Cassin).
- Eventually hateful anonymous messages reached Australian woman Katrina Collins’ 13-year-old daughter. An unknown cyberbully told Collins’ daughter to “KILL HERSELF” through the app (Cassin).
- Collins’ fought back. By February 2018, her petition, titled “Ban apps like Sarahah where my daughter was told to “KILL HERSELF,” on Change.org gained close to 470,000 signatures. Apple App and Google Play stores removed the app, finding it in violation of their policies (“Ban apps”).
- The app returned to Google Play in 2019 after serious upgrades (Murphy).
Industry:
- Web and app development
Parties Involved:
- Zain Al-Abidin Tawfiq – app developer
- Katrina Collins – Australian mother
- Apple and Google
Laws & Legislation related to this article:
- Corporate policy
References & Works Cited:
Cassin, Elizabeth. “Sarahah: Anonymous app dropped from Apple and Google stores after bullying accusations.” BBC, 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43174619.
Katrina_. “Ban apps like Sarahah where my daughter was told to ‘KILL HERSELF.’” Change.org, https://www.change.org/p/app-store-google-play-ban-apps-like-sarahah-where-my-daughter-was-told-to-kill-herself.
Khalaf, Rayana. “‘Sarahah’ removed from app stores for promoting cyber-bullying.” StepFeed, 2018, https://stepfeed.com/sarahah-removed-from-app-stores-for-promoting-cyber-bullying-2761.
Murphy, David. “Controversial messaging app Sarahah returns to Google Play a year after being banned.” MobileMarketing, 2019, https://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/controversial-messaging-app-sarahah-returns-to-google-play-a-year-after-being-banned.
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