Add a Delete Button to Minor Users on College Confidential
Add a Delete Button to Minor Users on College Confidential
The Issue
I am writing as the parent of a 16-year-old user of the online forum College Confidential (CC). Here's the actual harm caused by the undeletable policy of the platform, and it is potentially affecting thousands of other children.
My child was an active user of CC. Months ago she posted a thread in the ChanceMe section, where minor users are encouraged to disclose academic scores, extracurriculars, personal background, and full college essays. The platform promotes detailed information for "better evaluation".
CC does not allow users to remove or edit their own content. The information is permanent on that platform, but there are no alerts regarding such policy at the time posting. After receiving distressful comments, my child tried to delete the thread. She filed formal requests to delete the post to the official, but received no resolutions. Now my child is in deep mental issues, and is consistently concerned with the threads she posted. The permanence of the posts and comments fostered her anxiety, and raised her concerns about whether the posts will be viewed by admission officers and impact her future.
There is no real consent, no proper protection, and no basic users right to control their content to minor users. And this is extremely severe for College Confidential specifically as a large, well-known platform directly targeting vulnerable and immature minors, encouraging them to post personal information and is related to momentum, life-changing decisions like college applying. And the platform doesn't offer a single deletion nor regret window.
The issue affects not only our incident, but also thousands of families and children who are using this platform during this critical moment in their lives. I am in deep concern that there is such a serious moral flaw in a major college-application platform, and thousands of children are now still being encouraged to post their personal information and decisions permanently without awareness.
All we want right now is a single delete button.
For contact: marianws1024@gmail.com
2
The Issue
I am writing as the parent of a 16-year-old user of the online forum College Confidential (CC). Here's the actual harm caused by the undeletable policy of the platform, and it is potentially affecting thousands of other children.
My child was an active user of CC. Months ago she posted a thread in the ChanceMe section, where minor users are encouraged to disclose academic scores, extracurriculars, personal background, and full college essays. The platform promotes detailed information for "better evaluation".
CC does not allow users to remove or edit their own content. The information is permanent on that platform, but there are no alerts regarding such policy at the time posting. After receiving distressful comments, my child tried to delete the thread. She filed formal requests to delete the post to the official, but received no resolutions. Now my child is in deep mental issues, and is consistently concerned with the threads she posted. The permanence of the posts and comments fostered her anxiety, and raised her concerns about whether the posts will be viewed by admission officers and impact her future.
There is no real consent, no proper protection, and no basic users right to control their content to minor users. And this is extremely severe for College Confidential specifically as a large, well-known platform directly targeting vulnerable and immature minors, encouraging them to post personal information and is related to momentum, life-changing decisions like college applying. And the platform doesn't offer a single deletion nor regret window.
The issue affects not only our incident, but also thousands of families and children who are using this platform during this critical moment in their lives. I am in deep concern that there is such a serious moral flaw in a major college-application platform, and thousands of children are now still being encouraged to post their personal information and decisions permanently without awareness.
All we want right now is a single delete button.
For contact: marianws1024@gmail.com
2
Petition created on May 27, 2025