'Confession' pages create Facebook challenges

A recent rash of Facebook “confession” pages has captured the attention of Kalispell Public Schools administration, Kalispell Police Department, students, parents and teachers.

These pages have recently sprouted up in regard to high schools and colleges around the nation, even internationally, and are trending locally in Flathead and Glacier high schools.

Confession pages created under anonymity included: “Glacier High Confessions,” uploaded Feb. 13; “Flathead Valley Confessions,” uploaded Feb. 15; and the most recent page, “Wolfpack Confessions,” uploaded Feb. 20.

Glacier High Confessions and Flathead Valley Confessions were removed sometime last weekend but it took persistence and repeated complaints by Kalispell Police Department Student Resource Officer Justin Parce.  

According to the most recent email Parce sent to Facebook on Feb. 20 — the same day Wolfpack Confessions went online — he requested the removal of Flathead Valley Confessions, saying that the content violated Facebook policies against sharing sexually explicit content where a minor was involved and abusive behavior directed at private individuals. Glacier High Confessions had posts with similar content.

Parce said the pages were predominately used by minors.

Since Montana does not have a comprehensive cyberbullying law, he cited Montana obscenity, criminal defamation and privacy in communication statutes in the email.

“The posts and comments are targeting juveniles and students at both Kalispell High Schools with highly explicit sexually inappropriate content, and in some cases is fostering aggressive and potentially violent action towards members of the rival high schools,” Parce said in the email regarding Flathead Valley Confessions.

The alleged confessions were posted daily on the pages — and still are on the Wolfpack Confessions page.

Page administrators allegedly post “confessions” that are submitted anonymously through a link to an online survey site called SurveyMonkey.

The only identifiable users were people who had Facebook profiles and commented on posts.

“Most of these kids are dropouts,” Parce said referring to the Flathead Valley and Glacier High Confession pages. “They are unemployed. Many of the names I recognize are just from negative law enforcement contact with them.”

In the short span when Flathead Valley and Glacier High Confessions sites were active, it didn’t take long before the sites resulted in classroom disruption and emotional distress to individuals named in posts potentially viewed by hundreds of visitors.

The pages were public, which meant that in addition to the 763 users who “liked” Flathead Valley Confessions and the 782 users who “liked” Glacier High Confessions (as of Feb. 22), anyone with or without a Facebook account could view them, just not comment. “Likes” are made by individual Facebook users who want to receive status updates when new information is posted to a particular page. Facebook users can also “like” specific posts within a page.

“There was a girl who came to my office because on the Flathead Valley Confessions page there was a sexually explicit comment about her,” Parce said. “She was emotionally upset about it, the family was emotionally upset about it and she had to deal with it all day at school.”  

Glacier High School Principal Callie Langohr emailed a letter to parents Feb. 21 urging students not to participate.

“We are hoping that it is a passing fad and that our students quickly move to something more productive and appropriate,” Langohr wrote. “For these particular sites to fade away, our students need to stop ‘liking’ the sites, adding comments and reading the messages.”

Glacier juniors Brendan Windauer and Todd Ogden, interviewed at the Flathead-Glacier basketball game at Glacier High School on Feb. 21, said they had viewed the pages.

“I feel it’s for kids who aren’t very social,” Windauer said.

Ogden added, “I feel like kids who want attention go on there.”

Windauer and Ogden didn’t think people would write such explicit comments if their identities were visible.

Ogden noted that he had been included in a comment on one of the pages that is now removed.

“Kids just think they’re funny and it’s stupid,” Ogden said.

But posts weren’t limited to teenagers. Some adults and parents had participated on the pages, Parce said.

“Some posted against the site and then there’s other parents that have ‘liked’ certain inappropriate content,” Parce said. He also noted that a number of parents he contacted before the sites were removed didn’t express concern or weren’t sure what to do.

 “One way to prevent this is to have access to a child’s Facebook account password,” Parce said, yet noted that some parents balk at the idea. “Some of the parents tell me, ‘We trust them,’ but you’re a parent. Learn to be a parent and understand what your kids are talking about on here is defamatory or hurtful.”

Parce plans to retain printouts of the removed pages.

“We have all the information saved if we need to pursue anything. At this point, no victims have come forward that wish to pursue a criminal investigation,” Parce said.

And there is still work to do in monitoring new pages.

Wolfpack Confessions remains active with 43 “likes” and more than 40 comments.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com