Of the new social media apps that have sprung up around connecting anonymously, Yik Yak might be the most toxic. Or the most misunderstood. Perhaps it’s both.

The app lets its users post to a local feed without their names or any profile attached. The company, based in Atlanta, has 18 employees and has raised more than $10 million. Following its launch last year, Yik Yak was active in middle schools, high schools and colleges, but now its developers are focused on higher ed institutions, after cyberbullying and abuse took over the app within grade schools. Still, abuse and violent threats have also played out at colleges using the app, and all the while it’s unclear how much “connecting” the app really supports through the sophomoric humor of some of the posts on it.

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