Trill Project aims to provide a safe online space for teens

Previous anonymous social networking apps like Secret and YikYak may have had good intentions, including the freedom to speak one’s mind, but they soon became toxic spaces with a cyberbullying problem. These apps have since shut down but a new app known as The Trill Project hopes to succeed where they failed.

Trill was founded by three American high school girls who wanted to create a safe online space for all teenagers but especially for transgender teens. Anonymity is guaranteed through assigned usernames generated based on a colour chosen by the user.

Civility is maintained by a mix of human moderators and machine learning that detects hostile, bullying or otherwise problematic content based on previous posts.

“Due to our high level of security, our app is perfect for anyone grappling with issues, thoughts, or ideas they aren’t ready to publicly share, or are not supposed to be sharing. This especially includes people in countries with restricted or censored internet, people in the LGBT+ community, and people dealing with the stigma around mental health issues,” say the founders.