But others say the local nature of the app is what makes it challenging.
“They’re trying to walk a fine line of being helpful without putting them in a place where they could be held responsible for any incorrect information,” notes Will Payne, a Rutgers University professor who has studied Nextdoor. “That’s a tricky line to walk.” Payne points out that while Nextdoor can give users some local information, it can create a warped sense of local reality, and there’s no guarantee it’s accurately conveying the severity of the pandemic in local communities.