U.S. government shuts down teen slander website

Site contained racial rants, allegations of promiscuity

Peoplesdirt.com, a website that catered to anonymous slander and insults by and about teenagers, has been shut down by Maryland attorney general’s office, the Washington Post reports. Parents and school officials had expressed concern for months about the site, which contained racial rants, allegations of promiscuity about named high school girls, and scurrilous accusations against named teachers. In May, a former student of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD used it post a rambling threat to kill students and staff members. The teen was later arrested. Whitman principal Alan Goodwin hailed the demise of a site that “often caused despair for students.”

The Washington Post