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The Times Square ball is tested for the media ahead of the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, USA, December 30, 2020.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
An application that encouraged users to “cheer up your rebel, make your party” despite the pandemic has apparently been removed from most corners of the Internet.
Vybe Together, which advertised itself as a way to “find your Vybe” at “speakeasies, jam sessions or beer pong,” appeared to promote secret invite-only parties, according to an archived version of a now-deleted website. The deleted FAQ page said the platform was meant to promote smaller gatherings rather than large parties, The Verge reported.
The app’s dominance was registered this year, according to Business Insider, but received more widespread criticism on Tuesday after New York Times tech reporter Taylor Lorenz. tweeted about that.
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Lorenz’s tweet shared screenshots of the app, and in subsequent tweets she shared a TikTok from Vybe Together’s TikTok account, showing the app promoting a New Years Eve party.
“We are a secret party application that meets every weekend,” read the text written in the video about the New Year’s Eve party. The video said that the party would be by invitation only and would take place in New York City.
In New York, indoor and outdoor meetings are limited to no more than 10 people, according to the state’s website.
The Vybe Together account has since been removed from TikTok, a TikTok spokesperson told NBC News via email. The spokesperson said the account was removed for violating community guidelines and said it was not advertising on the platform.
The app has also been removed from the Apple App Store. The app was not available on Google Play, Google’s version of the App Store.
NBC News has reached out to Alexander Dimcevski, who is allegedly a co-founder of the app, for comment.
Dimcevski told Business Insider that the app had yet to host any big parties and that its TikTok was hype marketing.
“We do not tolerate large unsafe parties during a pandemic,” Dimcevski told Business Insider.
As of Wednesday afternoon, it appeared that Dimcevski had deleted or deactivated his LinkedIn account.
Currently, it appears that Vybe Together still exists on Instagram, where the account has approximately 840 followers and has two posts.
“The app store brought us down! We will be back! Follow us to stay up to date,” reads the description on Vybe Together’s Instagram account.
A text post on Tuesday’s account reads, “Local wine nights, beer pong games and dancing at an apartment near you,” with the caption “We’ll be back !!!”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that “the surest way to celebrate the new year is to celebrate it at home with the people who live with you or virtually with friends and family.”
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