Repp said university employees actively monitor social media and have had a presence on Yik Yak for more than a year. To help authenticate its customers, the service requires each user to provide a phone number to sign up.
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The threat comes as campuses across the United States are dealing with racial strife and as students are pressing for better treatment of black students following the ouster of the University of Missouri’s president, according to the Associated Press.
Yik Yak is extremely popular on college campuses due to its geo-specific criteria (only people on the campus can post and respond) and its anonymity.
A suspect was arrested on Thursday for allegedly posting an anonymous threat against black students at Michigan Technical University in Houghton, Michigan, according to a statement from the university.
The Yik Yak message threatened to “shoot every black person I see”. A message left on his mother’s cellphone was not returned.
In the last hour, a threat was posted on YikYak, an anonymous social media platform. Pryor, who posted bond, could not be located for an interview.
“At approximately 6:00am on Friday November 13, 2015 the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department was notified by the Marist College Office of Safety & Security that an online threat was sent out via Twitter against Marist College”. Sakamoto did not respond to an email sent to an account associated with her in public records.
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“While we aggressively defend First Amendment rights, the individual arrested went far beyond free speech by reposting names and addresses of 100 USA service members, all with the intent to have them killed”, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Stephen Anthony said in the press release.
