Cybertip.ca Alert: Sarahah: Parents Need to Know About New “Honesty” App

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) wants to make parents aware of a popular new anonymous feedback app called Sarahah, now one of the most popular downloads in the App Store.

What is the concern?

Initially created so that users could receive anonymous “constructive criticism” from friends and co‑workers, Sarahah has quickly turned into a platform for cyberbullying and harassment.

What can parents do?

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection encourage parents to:

• Talk to your teens about the harm anonymous message apps can cause and limiting their use of the app.
• Ensure that teens who are using the app change the settings to remove them from the search function and only share their user names with people they know. To do this, tap on the person icon on the bottom right of the screen, select the gear icon (settings) at the top right, and under “Privacy” swipe left on “Appear in Search” and “Receive messages from non-registered users”.
• Review the app to ensure it is age appropriate — the App Store states that you must be at least 17 years of age to download Sarahah.

Cybertip.ca has more online safety information for youth available here.