UCD paper refuses to publish correction about porn claims

The University College Dublin (UCD) paper that printed an article about an alleged controversial Facebook group among the university's students will not publish a correction.

The student newspaper reported that up to 200 male students were members of a private Facebook group chat in which they shared stories about and rated explicit images of young women with whom they had had sexual relations.

In a statement, UCD said its investigation did not uphold the allegations in the College Tribune newspaper.

It said the investigation found no evidence of the existence of such a group and was unable to find any student or other individual who had any first-hand sightings of these specific postings.

The alleged Facebook group chat came to the College Tribune's attention through the messaging app Yik Yak.

Yik Yak’s main feature is it allows people to send short messages, known as “yaks”, anonymously to people in the same area.

The app uses geo-location tools to limit user interactions to others within a small radius, making it popular on college campuses.

‘No evidence’

The investigation recommended that the College Tribune publish an online clarification that there was no first-hand evidence for the allegations and that the report was "entirely based on anonymous hearsay on Yik Yak".

However, a source at the paper said: “We feel the article outlines the posts were from Yik Yak and stated it was an anonymous platform and that the Tribune had not accessed the page.”

The College Tribune is an independent newspaper in UCD and does not receive funding from the Student's Union.