Teen gossip site examined after stabbings at party
Midtown neighbourhood groups meeting to discuss teenagers’ use of social media
It’s been five years since the series finale of Gossip Girl — a salacious CW television series, based on books by Cecily von Ziegesar. Now, in midtown Toronto, the spirit of the teen drama is getting an unlikely revival.
Miss Informed is a gossip site, and a social labyrinth for an adolescent world. It gives an outlandish glimpse into the lives of teenagers identified only by first names and initials — though one post indicated that last names were once used, as well.
“Who am I?” an introductory page reads.
“Well, I’m one of you, but I’m also only your new favorite (sic) source for the latest gossip on the social scene at the Midtown Toronto high schools, as well as it’s parties, gossip, stories, and finally, it’s (sic) hottest couples and people.”
One post asks readers for more information about a fight between two girls, alluding that it may have been over romantic jealousy.
The comments range from corrections on what school the teens attend to a play-by-play of one girl being flung away “like a tissue.”
Notes of friends becoming mortal enemies follow. Other posts are warmer, pronouncing the “hottest couple” or a pair in a “lovely relationship.”
But the site’s quippy gossip and snarky observations went awry one Saturday night in mid-September.
Emergency calls poured in on Sept. 16 from the area around Rosedale Park. Stabbings, assaults and robberies were compounded by medical calls for unconscious and intoxicated teens. Police reported hundreds had arrived after receiving information across social media.
All reported incidents involved victims between 15 and 16 years old, and the suspects were approximately eight to 10 boys and girls in their late teens, wearing hoodies with bandanas covering their faces.
Multiple parties in a number of weeks followed the same pattern, and police believe the suspects attend for the sole purpose of carrying out criminal activity. They also have evidence leading them to believe there have been several unreported incidents of a similar nature.
Staff Sgt. James Hogan of Toronto Police’s 53 Division says the Rosedale Park party was certainly aided by social media — but it wasn’t caused by it.
“I certainly went to lots of parties in forests and fields without social media when I was younger. It’s not a new phenomenon; it’s just a different way of organizing it,” he explained.
Hogan will be a panelist at a Tuesday night town-hall style event, run by the North Rosedale and neighbouring residents associations. The purpose of the evening, at Rosedale United Church, is to discuss Midtown teenagers’ use of social media and their safety in a digital age.
Police will also provide an update on their criminal investigation.
Lewis Redford, president of the North Rosedale Residents Association, called Miss Informed “sort of a dark site, I guess you’d call it — something a lot of adults and school supervisors weren’t really aware of.”
On Friday, the author of Miss Informed posted a statement addressing several potential concerns, including the “Rosedale Jam” party. The author began by saying they didn’t take responsibility for what happened, but that they’d be altering their posts in future.
“I have made the decision not to post about parties, but instead to SMS blast them only to the group of confirmed subscribers who are actually students in the grades invited,” the anonymous author wrote. “The last thing I want is a disaster.” They also wrote that they maintained a set of morals around the gossip they shared (using the example that they wouldn’t share a tip outing someone’s sexual orientation), that there was a site feature to request a post be taken down, and that “believe it or not, most people ask me to post about them.”
Tracking the owner of the site leads to multiple stops: a listed phone number was previously used to advertise escort services, as recently as June 2016. The site itself is registered with a company based in Panama.
The site focuses on five schools: North Toronto Collegiate Institute, Northern Secondary School, Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute, Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, Forest Hill Collegiate Institute and “BHHS,” which may be an acronym for Branksome Hall.
Toronto District School Board said they’re aware of the gossip site, but don’t have control over its content.
“It’s important to note that content posted online that has a negative impact on the climate of a school can result in possible disciplinary action in cases where the poster’s identity is known,” spokesperson Ryan Bird wrote. And though the meeting was spurred by the public-park parties in September, Hogan says that’s just the starting point.
“We get that that’s just a useful catalyst. It’s a much broader discussion about social media, and young people, and the implications of it.”