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KOLKATA: “Let me know what you think of me :)” – that’s been posted multiple times over on Facebook along with an illustration of a white envelope on a turquoise background. Some call it thrilling. Others are just irritated or worried about users get bullied. But few can ignore the latest online craze called Sarahah that has suddenly flooded everyone’s timeline. Sarahah, which means honesty in Arabic, has around 300 million users and is top of Apple’s download charts in many countries. Curious Kolkata too has jumped in to join the bandwagon.

In terms of popularity, the new app built by Saudi programmer Zain al-Abidin Tawfiq is enjoying its moment under the sun after Snapchat allowed its users to share links. Users download the app to their phone or sign up for an account online. They then share a link to their Sarahah account to social media , and wait for the comments to come in. Anyone can go to that profile and post a comment that is sent as an image to the user. It’s the user’s prerogative to share that image online. A Sarahah visitor can’t view the messages as long as the user doesn’t share them. Misuse of social networking sites is common and it has also been claimed that this app has features like blocking and filtering to prevent untoward incidents.

According to the Sarahah website, this app “helps you in discovering your strengths and areas for improvement by receiving honest feedback from your employees and your friends in a private manner”. The website also assures that the makers won’t disclose the identity of the logged-in senders to users except with their consent. Sarahah, it says, doesn’t steal data but websites and apps impersonating Sarahah could do that. The user can’t respond to the messages as yet.

While the popularity of the app is soaring, the reaction to it is still mixed. Some are worried that the app is giving a free run to trolls, those defending it are saying that people who can’t deal with criticism shouldn’t download such an app in the first place. Many parents are scared that the anonymous environment might empower those interested in cyberbullying.

In 2015, a college-focused messaging app called Yik Yak became very popular among youngsters. But soon, it was used for cyber bullying. While one student had to be suspended after posting a racist comment, another was charged with hate crime.

Some say that Sarahah resembles Yik Yak that was suspended this year. According to Dr Jairanjan Ram, there is a chance of this heckle-or-compliment-anonymously app leaving behind a negative impact. “The founder is cashing in on our natural curiosity to find out what people think about us. But people are going overboard. I’m seeing people around me, including some of my colleagues, going crazy,” Ram says. Someone, he noticed, posted a message saying she got a message stating ‘someone like her is born after seven demons die’. “Not everyone has the ability to deal with such criticism and there are people who can take advantage of this vulnerability. This might backfire in some situations,” he points out.

On Tuesday, techie-turned-director Amartya Bhattacharyya shared a post saying: “This is your chance to directly throw your venom at me, and inspire me by your venomous feedback. I rarely remember appreciations even if I receive any, but whenever someone criticizes me, I never forget. I remember each one of them, and I draw a lot of nutrition from them. So, if you want a place in my heart (or brain), do criticize.”

Unfortunately 24 hours after using it, Bhattacharyya didn’t get any negative feedback. He calls it an “interesting platform” for sharing feedback which people hesitate sharing openly. “When worthless people are riding high, there needs to be platforms where one can be disillusioned. For example, if someone really wants to say that my films are an unbearable torture, they hesitate to do so in front of me. When the feedback is anonymous, it is mostly honest and not pretentious,” the 29-year-old says, waiting for the stinker to hit his inbox.

Bhattacharyya is also aware of this app being misused. “Most social platforms are not sensibly used. Same is probably happening with Sarahah where people are saying just about anything without purpose or sense,” he says.

That’s why anchor Roopsha Dasguupta Ray isn’t interested. “I’m a straight person and would much prefer people criticising me on my face. There is a bit of ‘shararat’ in Sarahah that I don’t like,” she says.

But, Jadavpur University student Sayantany Chatterjee is enjoying every moment a message pops up on her phone. She calls it a ‘new addiction’ and wants to use it till she gets bored. “I got to know about this app from a friend. I wouldn’t exactly call it thrilling but I can sense a strange kind of new feeling associated with this. I’m getting to hear comments about myself that I haven’t heard before. Someone even said that I have attitude problem,” Chatterjee adds.

Anirban Guha, who is a vice president in a multi-national bank by profession and an independent film maker by passion, calls his Sarahah experience “quite funny”. “It is just time pass for me. I saw my Facebook timeline getting flooded with the funny messages that my friends are getting. It made me curious to see what sort of messages I might get,” Guha admits.

Proposals to date are quite common when it comes to women. Emoticons of love and kisses are being shared like freebies. “Those who have a crush but don’t have the courage to say directly are using this opportunity since they can stay anonymous. I heard that people are even allowed to use slangs. A friend got a message from the administrator saying from tomorrow the identity of the sender will be revealed too. I don’t know if that is true,” Chatterjee says.

Entrepreneur Utsav Bhanja was curious when he saw his friends using it online. “Something similar was trending a few days back. But this app was intriguing because it reminded me of confessions groups that several colleges and school students have on Facebook,” the 28-year-old says. Bhanja is keen to know what the founder is going to make out of it. “So far, it seems to be a free service but I have a feeling that the platform may be monetized in the near future. With so many users on a platform, this seems like a gold mine,” he says.

However, sarod player Indrayuddh Majumder is a little apprehensive. “I won’t be surprised if this database is used by any terrorist group, as it includes the valid, current and working email addresses (not the old and/or invalid ones), and that too paired with the users’ smartphones. It is literally more than enough for any hacker to clone any user’s smartphone and email data and extract valuable information from those,” Majumder says.

Personally, he started using the app seeing his peers on social media. “But, I sincerely pray that the developer doesn’t share the database, at least not for any negative purpose. I really do not recommend anyone to use this app any further,” the sarod player says.

