Count 19 down

Users of the controversial Count 19 App, designed by a Saheti pupil, can no longer speak their mind as the social media App was disabled yesterday.

According to Mr Michael Jordan, a former Bedfordview resident who created the App with the pupil, Count 19 went viral last Wednesday and was used by pupils at the school to speak their minds.

Mr Jordan said the school banned the App and threatened to take legal action against the owners of Count 19.

He said the App was intended to promote open discussion about controversial topics without the fear of judgement.

“It has features to combat abuse which did work and did remove the inappropriate posts made by some of the pupils,” said Mr Jordan.

He accused the school of bulling the programmer to give up his stake in the App.

“Students used the App to speak their mind about the school and teachers. This caused the school to ban the App, take down the wifi, have an emergency assembly and sent some children home early. The chairman of the school embarrassed himself when he publicly swore at the student who had programmed it at the matric valedictory dinner. He also offered R300 000 to anyone who could hack the app. The school’s IT teacher also tried to hack the App and reveal the identities of the students who had made posts. This was unsuccessful,” said Mr Jordan.

School comments

“Over the past week, Saheti School has been confronted by a serious social media issue with the creation of an App which allows users to post completely anonymously. This has, unfortunately, resulted in the publication of hate speech and the cyberbullying of a number of our students and some of our teachers. We view posts of this nature as totally inappropriate and cowardly. Saheti condemns such actions and posts,” said Saheti School’s executive headmaster, Mr Warwick Taylor.

“The school has a proud heritage of freedom of expression as enshrined in our school constitution, which states ‘that everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion’. With these freedoms come responsibilities, and it is never acceptable to use such platforms for abuse.

“This App, developed by a Saheti student, has not demonstrated that it can moderate hate speech, defamation and insult and consequently, must face closure. What is clear from this situation is that anonymous platforms, that do not have moderation, have and will continue to bring out the worst in people. Many of the comments target the child’s person and character. The school is doing all that it can to support those who have been hurt by the comments and, where possible, to stop further abuse. Saheti has a responsibility to protect any student or teacher who has been a victim of cyberbullying and who has been affected in a deeply personal, offensive and derogatory manner,” said Mr Taylor.

Mr Taylor also expressed his disappointment in some of the pupils.

“As executive headmaster of Saheti School, I am disappointed by some of our students who, over a five day period, lost restraint and a sense of perspective in their posts and comments. We have in the past called on the expertise of specialists such as Nikki Bush and Emma Sadleir in educating our students on the risks and dangers of social media platforms. We will continue to engage with such specialists around these issues,” Mr Taylor said.

Mr Taylor also addressed Mr Jordan in his comment, stating the initial damage done was against students who were being cyberbullied with derogatory and hateful comments.

He said these comments constitute hate speech, and as a result, it was devastating to individuals.

“More recently, the board, school leadership and teachers have been targeted with hate speech. We did not send any children home early on Wednesday. On the contrary, I said to parents who were wanting to fetch their children who had been targeted, to wait until I had met with the school and put processes in place.

“The chairman did use inappropriate language and has apologised to the student and family. I also addressed the inappropriateness of his comment immediately with them at the Valedictory Dinner. The chairman did not offer money to anyone to hack the App. Hacking is illegal and our IT department has not attempted to hack the App. We have put pressure on our student, appealing to his ethical responsibility, to take down the App until he has time to add in the necessary software to allow for better moderation. We have a duty to protect the individuals within our school and Saheti’s good name, and we will explore all the options available to us. The school strongly condemns cyberbullying of any kind,” said Mr Taylor.

AUDIO: ‘The Controversial Count 19 App. Our response to the crisis’

Seen here are some of the posts which resulted in Saheti School placing a ban on the Count 19 App.