US Schools Are on High Alert Due to Latest TikTok Challenge

The latest TikTok challenge put schools across the United States on high alert Friday, December 17. Some school districts chose to shut down for the day or switch to remote learning, while other school officials stated that they would work with local law enforcement agencies to increase security in and around their campuses.

What type of challenge could put school districts in such a panic? A challenge that encourages students to commit acts of violence, more specifically school shootings and bomb threats. Reports of this TikTok challenge began circulating on the social media platform earlier in the week and quickly grabbed the attention of students, parents, school officials, and law enforcement agencies.

Fortunately, the Department of Homeland Security noted that it could find no credible threats of violence against any specific school district. Even rumors of violence against students, however, are something school officials just can’t ignore, especially on the heels of the Oxford High School shooting that took the lives of four students less than three weeks ago.

This isn’t the first TikTok challenge school districts have had to deal with this year. In early September, a TikTok challenge encouraged kids to steal property or cause property damage at their school. Numerous school districts incurred hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of damage.

TikTok states that it takes online threats and even rumors of violence very seriously and takes aggressive steps to remove this type of content from its platform. The popular social media company also noted that they were unable to find any content actually promoting violence at schools. Instead, they could only find video content that discussed the challenge.

These various challenges throughout the year have led to a discussion about what type of liability social media companies, like TikTok, might have in regard to the content posted on their platforms. The reality is very little. The Communication Decency Act provides social media companies with a type of safety net that limits their liability in cases like these.

Even without these protections, however, one would have to almost prove willful negligence on part of the social media company, which could be nearly impossible since most platforms have a process in place for identifying and removing violent content.

Fortunately, TikTok, law enforcement, and school officials worked together to keep all students safe on Friday. While there were reports of some arrests, due to threats, there were no major school shootings reported that day.