The Sarahah app took the internet by storm when it recently released. People everywhere were obsessed with it.

Pakistanis couldn’t control their excitement (or hormones) and the app became a phenomenon

#Sarahah
And there are some aunties like this..one pic.twitter.com/QV7SPzNliE

— Oreo (@Shaxad_here) August 24, 2017

Good news: the app has now been taken down from Apple’s App Store and Google Play because it was facilitating bullying.

Because Sarahah allowed people to send anonymous messages to people you say anything to people without them ever finding out who sent them the message

The App was very similar to what Ask.fm was

However, as often as that happens, people don’t generally know where to draw a line

They resort to asking extremely personal stuff and often end up bullying people for making choices that they do not approve of. Such apps especially affect the lives of teenagers who tend to be the first ones to adopt all the latest trends. There is pressure to be on these apps but there is no going back either once the bullying begins. Even if they end up leaving the platform, due to the content being readily available to the public, no one forgets and the child ends up being bullied for a good amount of time. And since, this is a very crucial age in life, this affects them for the rest of their lives.

Here are a few parents and children talking about how it impacted their lives

And here’s an example of the type bullying that went on this app

It became one of those platforms which became a ground for bullying and had to be banned. If the authorities already understand what such platforms lead to, they should not be allowed to run in the first place. We always wait for the damage to be done in order to control further damage.

With the advancements in internet technology, it is extremely important to protect the users.

Online safety is a grave concern and should not be ignored. We need to keep pace with the changes and also understand ways to keep ourselves safe.

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cover image via dawn.com