By Michael Bielawski

The Champlain Valley Union High School community is shaken up after a new social media outlet named Fizz that allows for anonymous posting created an outburst of scandalous posts implicating students and staff alike.

The app has now been banned from use at the school. The whole scandal caught the attention of national media.

“Fizz, a private message board for colleges and high schools, opened to students at Vermont’s largest high school in May,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Within hours, posts went from jokes and memes to public shaming of students and speculation about teachers’ sex lives. It caused more havoc than the principal had seen in his nine years on the job.”

Two Stanford University students created the app which targets high school and college students. It’s advertised as an uplifting space for young people to admit to a crush or other anonymous confessions. The company used Instagram to advertise directly to students. This high school is the largest in the state with about 1,300 students.

The Business Insider also picked up the story. They noted how for example a Dungeons and Dragons club was insulted via an anonymous post.

“One student shared a picture of the club from the yearbook and called them ‘nasty.’ Another student said that Fizz was advertised to them as a ‘gossip app,’ the report states.

Other students poked fun at each other’s sexual orientation, appearance, and disabilities. There were party photos and students commented about who they thought was drinking or on drugs. Administration and teachers were not spared from the fray with their personal lives scrutinized and speculated about.

The aftermath has included students arriving at the guidance counselor in tears and at least one student had to be talked out of dropping out.

According to the WSJ report, despite its controversies, it’s rapidly growing its user base. The report states that “market intelligence firm Sensor Tower says that Fizz has 113,000 monthly active users, more than double from a year ago, and that it has been downloaded 600,000 times.”

Until recently it’s only been used at college campuses. Then starting in April, it started appearing at high schools and is currently estimated to be active at more than 600 high schools.

The Stanford Daily reported last year that there are privacy concerns regarding all of the personal data that the Fizz company has access to, and the website has already been hacked at least once compromising that data.

Their report states, “But these are entrepreneurs who have access to an inordinate amount of highly sensitive information about their peers and young people all over the country through their app Fizz, which promises anonymity to its meme-making, confession-posting users.”

Vermonters on Monday morning have been sharing their thoughts on X about the controversy.

Emily Heebner posted, “Rumors, gossip and body-shaming spread through a Vermont high school after students signed up for Fizz. @juliejargon has details on the app that lets teens post anonymously and moderate content.”

Daniel Brennick also shared his thoughts on Monday.

He wrote, “Anonymity and youth, what could go wrong?”

Any #EdTech tool should have a clearly defined purpose paired with robust student and teacher training. It seems like none of that was present here.”

Around the world, there are more stories of social media apps disrupting school communities, including a story out of Spain where users of an AI-photo editing app faked malicious photos of young girls.

To sign up for Fizz, you must provide various documentation proving that you are a member of a school community that is using Fizz.

The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle.

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