SCHOOL districts across the US have issued warnings over a TikTok challenge that reportedly urges students to bring weapons to school on December 17.
TikTok acknowledged in a Thursday tweet that they were looking into the rumored challenge, but said there was no evidence yet of such a threat spreading on the platform.
“We handle even rumored threats with utmost seriousness, which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok,” the tweet said.
Still, districts across the country have sent out warnings alerting parents to the possible challenge.
Academy District 20 in Colorado Springs sent a note about the challenge to parents on Thursday but noted that they do not believe there is any specific threat to schools in the district at the time.
“This is the newest in a string of TikTok posts, but this challenge is NOT specific to any Academy District 20 school,” the note, obtained by Fox8, reads.
“It is a general post, circulating across our nation.
” We are aware of this challenge and the Academy District 20 (ASD20) Security Team is keeping in close contact with our partners in law enforcement, as well as with other local school district security teams.”
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The note also encourages anyone who has seen threatening messages on the platform to report them immediately.
Over in Utah, a note from the Tooele County School District said the challenge initially began as a way for students to skip school, but “morphed into something much more disturbing.”
Some schools across the country said they are amping up the police presence on school grounds on December 17, just in case.
“While we do not anticipate anything in our schools or district, we would be remiss if we were not extra vigilant regarding safety and security at our schools tomorrow as a result of this TikTok challenge,” a memo that went out to parents in Andover, Massachusetts, said.
In September, a similar challenge called “Devious Licks” encouraged students to commit acts of vandalism in their schools and film it for TikTok.
To participate in the challenge, students did things like shattering mirrors, stealing soap dispensers, and vandalizing other school items for the sake of clout on the platform.
