![]() Local and national outlets reported about the supposed challenge, sometimes attributing violence in schools to the TikTok challenge without providing evidence that the incidents were at all associated with a social-media challenge, the report said. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong wrote a letter to TikTok about the 'harmful impact the viral app is having on mental and physical safety' that mentioned the non-existent challenge. Groups like the National Education Association and the California Teachers Association made statements that referenced the supposed trend. The rumors spread around US school systems, which began issuing warnings and creating policies to respond to such incidents, the report said, even though there was no evidence the challenge was real. A version of the list of challenges was even shared on one public Facebook page with 42,000 followers, run by a school resource officer who is considered an influencer among parents and teachers, according to the report. The calendar of supposed challenges spread in various Facebook groups that included figures like principals and school resource officers. How 'slap a teacher' became a widespread panic The fake challenge may have gone viral organically, but it soon became used as a means of influencing news outlets to spread negative stories about TikTok. The new research was conducted by Jazilah Salam, a research assistant at the Shorenstein Center, who told Insider that the spread of misinformation related to the "slap a teacher" TikTok challenge was an example of media manipulation. But researchers were unable to find any evidence of that list originating from TikTok and instead it appears to have spread through Facebook groups of worried parents and educators. The news coverage around the supposed "slap a teacher" trend first started to originate in late September 2021 when a teacher in California received a dubious list of allegedly upcoming TikTok challenges, according to the report. It often indicates a user profile.Ī widespread moral panic last year about a TikTok challenge involving children slapping teachers was a prime example of how viral misinformation can take hold of media coverage, according to a report from Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy published Tuesday. If you are in schools or at sporting events, know we will be keeping an extra eye out for this," the West Des Moines Police Department in Iowa wrote.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. "Kids, just know that if you get caught doing the challenge, your phone will probably be seized as evidence and it may take a long time to get it returned, if ever. Schools and police urged parents to talk to their teenagers about the criminal charges they could face for participating, including a possible felony. She says this is an example of a fad that tends to come and go quickly. I think the goal is really to have what seems like approval of your peers online, and that's a really powerful incentive for teens," she tells Weekend Edition. "The goal is not to have the thing that you've stolen from the school. Jacqueline Nesi, an assistant professor at Brown University who studies adolescents and social media, says teenagers are more likely than others to engage in risky behaviors for social approval. ![]() One video showed someone with a bottle of red liquid spraying it all over a toilet and wall in a bathroom stall. "We expect our community to stay safe and create responsibly, and we do not allow content that promotes or enables criminal activities," a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement.Įven so, NPR was easily able to find school vandalism videos by making small changes to the lettering. ![]() TikTok says it is removing content with the hashtag and redirecting the search results to its community standards. ![]() Students have already faced school disciplinary measures and criminal charges.Īdministrators and law enforcement are blaming the damage on a TikTok trend involving the hashtag "deviouslick" or "deviouslicks." Students are said to be destroying or stealing school property for attention on social media. It's also frustrating for the students because those restrooms then need to be shut down." They have to then come and clean up and that sort of thing. "When this type of thing happens, not only do the custodians and the maintenance workers have to stop whatever they actually should be doing. "It's certainly very, very frustrating for administrators, for custodians, teachers, other students, maintenance staff," she tells Weekend Edition.
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