Classes were cancelled and security beefed up at a number of schools after posts warning about shootings and bomb attacks started circulating.
via: Complex
Per local new reports, districts in California, Texas, Minnesota, and Missouri announced plans to close down Friday after anonymous shooting and bomb threats were made on TikTok. USA Today reports schools in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania increased their police presence due to concern of violence.
According to Syracuse.com, one threat was labeled December 17, “National Shoot Up Your School Day,” but did not name a specific school or district.
The threats arrive just three weeks after the tragic shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan on Nov. 30 that left four people dead and several others injured.
In a statement posted to its official Twitter account on Friday, TikTok said it has not found evidence of the alleged threats.
“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 statement read.
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.
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) December 16, 2021
TikTok added, “Local authorities, the FBI, and DHS have confirmed there’s no credible threat, so we’re working to remove alarmist warnings that violate our misinformation policy. If we did find promotion of violence on our platform, we’d remove and report it to law enforcement.”
The statement concluded with, “Media reports have been widespread and based on rumors rather than facts, and we are deeply concerned that the proliferation of local media reports on an alleged trend that has not been found on the platform could end up inspiring real world harm.”
2/ Local authorities, the FBI, and DHS have confirmed there's no credible threat, so we're working to remove alarmist warnings that violate our misinformation policy. If we did find promotion of violence on our platform, we'd remove and report it to law enforcement.
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) December 17, 2021
3/ Media reports have been widespread and based on rumors rather than facts, and we are deeply concerned that the proliferation of local media reports on an alleged trend that has not been found on the platform could end up inspiring real world harm.
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) December 17, 2021
4/ We understand it can be difficult to know how to assess viral warnings online. We have a guide on our Safety Center to help people assess this kind of content? https://t.co/nZuxGBolrd
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) December 17, 2021
School districts have dealt with dangerous rumors going viral on TikTok before. This year, there was concern about a “slap a teacher” challenge, which turned out to be fake. Another supposed challenge dared kids to steal items from their school; in that case, some students actually followed through — though others, it turned out, were just pretended to take things to get in on the trend.
