School gossip website continues to flourish

London: Pupils at leading private schools are still using a controversial website to spread malicious rumours about their peers — even though it was supposed to have banned them.

LittleGossip allows teenagers to write anonymous tittle-tattle about other youngsters' sex lives, looks and drug habits.

Many of the postings are obscene, racist, homophobic or bullying. And in December, critics warned that it was subjecting thousands of pupils to cyber-bullying and harassment.

But although the site's owners said they would stop under-18s using it and would remove schools from the list of institutions about which users can post gossip, last week at least 78 schools were still on the site.

These included leading independent schools such as Wellington College, King Edward VI School, in Suffolk, and top state secondaries such as Camden School for Girls. Another 155 sixth form or further education colleges were also listed.

Furthermore, pupils as young as Year Eight — aged 12-13 — are still being named on it.

LittleGossip, created by web developers in Belize, Central America, was launched in Britain in November. Pupils worldwide can select their country and school and view or post messages about their peers.

Under pressure from schools, report buttons were added so users could hide offensive content. But although the site is supposed to be for adults only, safeguards can be bypassed easily. Postings are invariably cruel. One, on the site's front page yesterday attacked a young, named female pupil in wording too explicit for the Mail to print. In another, the contributor made racist comments about pupils at a school in Surrey.