After gaining tremendous momentum following its launch in 2014, anonymous messaging app Secret eventually folded last April. At the time, co-founder David Byttow said that the app ceased to “represent the vision I had when starting the company.”
Now, after the US presidential elections have concluded, Byttow believes there’s a greater need for the app: He posted a message on Facebook on Saturday evening, saying, “Secret V2 is coming. It’s too important not to exist.”
Speaking to TechCrunch, Byttow explained his motivation to resurrect Secret:
The downsides of current social media products MUST be addressed, and this is currently the way that I know how.
He added:
People don’t have a good space to be their most authentic selves, especially to people they know. There is too much fear, and there is too little self-awareness. We need more self-awareness, starting with Silicon Valley. We are in a bubble. Fuck the bubble. The truth wants to be set free. Only then can we begin to understand and only then can we heal and work together.
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It isn’t clear when the next version of Secret will be ready. Byttow, who’s currently focusing on Bold, his content creation service for enterprises, said that he won’t raise money to build it or even involve himself in the process: The idea is to commission a separate team to create the app and donate any money made through it to charities he believes in, such as the ACLU and Planned Parenthood.
Between the fears of persecution online and the current trend of political correctness that’s swept the world, it’s not often that we get to speak our minds online. It’d certainly be interesting to see if an app like Secret can help us have more open and honest conversations about issues affecting us.
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