Speech (Un)leashed
The reveal of Gossip Girl’s identity during the hit 2010s show’s series finale in 2012 was a closing door on paper, an albeit disappointing end to the anonymous figure which tormented Blair Waldorf and teen viewers alike. In real life, the domination of anonymous not–so–social media, however, had only just begun. Within the year of the show’s close, Yik Yak, ASKfm, and Whisper had wriggled their way onto the iPhone 5s of middle and high school students, bringing with them a slew of controversies in schools across the nation.