Is Sarahah app proving to be a Blessing or Curse in Disguise

They say that you always have to tell the truth, be sincere and show things as they are, but it is not always appropriate to do it to the face, or one does not dare. But what if you could get it anonymously so that you could help with your comments to someone who needs it or give you advice on a problem? Or even that you were the one who received those secret messages?

Now it is possible thanks to the application Sarahah (that in Arabic means “honesty”), created by the Saudi programmer Zain al-Abidin Tawfiq and that was launched free of charge to the mobile market last February. The success was overwhelming with 2.5 million users in Egypt, 1.7 million in Tunisia and 1.2 million in Saudi Arabia. But now it seems that this success wants to expand worldwide and since it was released in June in the Apple Store, has become the short time in the application number 1 in downloads.

The problem is that when a user is anonymous to criticize, he runs the risk of being overly honest. Although Sarahah expected people to use the app to help their users to know their strengths and weaknesses, it seems that many are getting out of hand and are seeing in this tool a new way to harass and encourage hatred. In fact, some comments are written in the opinions of the app leave much to be desired. This is one: “My son made an account, and in less than 24 hours someone had already put a racist comment on his profile, and that should be attacked. This application is sowing the seed of hatred. ” Meanwhile, others warn of the problem they may pose for young people with low self-esteem:”I do not recommend it unless you want to suffer bullying ” or “Parents, do not let your children download it, foment suicide.”

To this is added that the application allows to share these messages in other social networks, like Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, the reason why the message is not only in the mobile of the one who sends it, but they can even distribute it in the network. It is not the first application that allows commenting anonymously. In 2017, the “Yik Yak” app, with a modus operandi similar to Sarahah , was forced to close after numerous critics and the misuse that was made of it, fomenting the hatred and the easy insult, although its founders assured in its Moment that they did it to close an episode of his life.

But not all are bad comments. There are people who are seeing in the application a way to reaffirm themselves in their strengths, to feel encouraged and to discover that there are people who help them to be a better person day by day.

Despite comments on both sides, the app remains at the top of the Apple Store but does not seem to have reached popularity in Android. We will have to wait and see its evolution, but one thing is clear: curiosity killed the cat.