Harvard University asks college chat app to moderate content amid reports of anti-Semitism
Harvard University asked Sidechat to moderate content posted on the app amid reports of increased anti-Semitism.
Sidechat is a social media app that allows users to anonymously post by using their university email, according to the New York Times, adding that posts are only seen by those in the university community. The app isn’t managed by Harvard University.
University spokesperson Jason A. Newton told the Harvard Crimson that Sidechat’s leadership told university officials that content will be moderated in accordance with the app’s terms of use and community guidelines and will also limit access to current undergraduate students.
Nathan B. Gershengorn, who is the incoming Hillel president at Harvard, told the Harvard Crimson that the anti-Semitic posts on Sidechat have become “really hard to ignore.”
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“It’s affected every Jewish student I’ve talked to about it,” Gershengorn said. “It’s a genuinely horrible feeling to know that so many of your classmates at a place that’s supposed to be the forefront of higher education are willing to give in to negative stereotypes.”
In a post on X, Harvard Computer Science professor Boaz Barak on Jan. 3 showed screenshots of several posts where “students celebrated the Hamas attacks or engaged in anti-semitic tropes”
Sidechat accidentally allowed all Harvard affiliates to join the Harvard page in May 2023, but was intended to only be for undergraduates.
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The app has now restricted membership to undergraduates only.
“We always intended Harvard Sidechat to be for Harvard College,” moderators wrote on sidechat. “As a result, we have removed everyone without a @college.harvard.edu email address from the community and have reimplemented our original membership condition.”
Sidechat CEO and co-founder Sebastian Gil told the outlet on Jan. 12 that “antisemitism, racism, and bigotry” aren’t allowed on the app.
