Rabat – An upsurge of vandalism is hitting schools around the world as students participate in a destructive new TikTok challenge named “devious licks.” Videos of teens stealing and destroying their schools are spreading online as the TikTok challenge is worrying school administrators in many countries around the world.
Videos of youngsters stealing backpacks full of laptops, taking entire bathroom stalls apart, and purposefully flooding toilets are racking up thousands of reactions online, prompting further imitations by other students.
Student rampage
Schools in the US have been hit particularly hard by the trend, with the Washington Post reporting on the rampant vandalism and theft that the TikTok challenge has spawned. Places of relative privacy such as bathrooms have been a favorite target of the delinquent youngsters, with some schools reporting that entire urinals, mirrors and toilet bowls were removed.
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Because the TikTok app caters to one of the youngest social media audiences, many of the students involved in the “vandalism for fame” hype do not fear harsh criminal repercussions for their acts, but many schools have responded by removing all toilet paper, emptying soap dispensers.
The interventions by school administrators, and their desperate pleas to students asking to stop the vandalism has sparked a new trend of videos broadcasting public announcements, or simply pointing their camera at expensive school equipment with the insinuation they might steal or vandalize the objects.
Frustrated teachers
While many school administrators were happy to once again see full classrooms after a year of online schooling, the new trend has again shown that having crowds of young people craving fame and popularity can have devastating effects, leaving the adults in the room pondering how to protect school property.
TikTok has since banned the “DeviousLicks” hashtag, stating that it does not support criminal behavior. As soon as the tag was banned, new slightly reworded hashtags such as the still active “Devious Liks” emerged.
A TikTok video posted on Friday features a morning school announcement featuring a school administrator pleading with students to stop.
The teacher highlighted how 10 soap dispensers, 5 doors, 20 toilets were missing. “Guys, this needs to come to an end,” the teacher pleaded, before concluding “even my pencil sharpener was stolen this morning, how am I supposed to sharpen my pencils?”
Like many frustrated teachers and school staff, she begged her students “this needs to come to an end,” reminding pupils that “this is the real world, this is theft.”
