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Educators announced plans to increase security in response TikTok Schools across the country on Friday issued a warning of gunfire and bomb threats as authorities reassured parents that viral posts were not considered credible.
Social media threats made many educators nervous as they circulated in the wake of a deadly school attack in Michigan, followed by multiple copycat threats to schools elsewhere.
School officials in states like Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania said on Thursday that police presence will increase due to the threats.
Vague, anonymous posts circulating the internet warned that multiple schools would receive threats of gunfire and bombs.
“We’re writing to keep you informed and we’re writing to not worry you,” school administrators in Oak Park and River Forest, Illinois, said in an email to parents. “We became aware of a nationwide viral virus” TikTok The trend on Friday, December 17th about ‘gun attacks and bomb threats to every school in the USA, including elementary school’.
Administrators said local police departments will increase their presence around schools “because of their extreme vigilance”.
In a statement on Twitter, TikTok He said he was working with law enforcement to investigate.
“We take even rumored threats with great seriousness,” the statement said. TikTok”
At least several districts, including Gilroy High School in Northern California, announced plans to close their school buildings on Friday. Gilroy police said they did not find the threats on social media credible, but school officials said the final exams, scheduled for Friday, the last day before winter break, would be postponed to January due to extreme caution.
“It wasn’t easy to make the decision to cancel classes tomorrow,” Principal Greg Kapaku said in a message to parents.
The posts follow a disturbing trend that is causing students to take action in response to challenges on social media. In September, students in the U.S. posted videos of them vandalizing school bathrooms and stealing soap dispensers as part of a “devious licks” contest.
In October, students were asked to slap a teacher, which prompted the National Education Association to call leaders on Facebook, Twitter, and Twitter. TikTok to intervene.
Among law enforcement responding to the posts, the Michigan State Police said Thursday it was unaware of any credible threats.
Internet companies such as TikTok Thanks to the legal “safe harbor” granted by Section 230 of the Communications Ethics Act of 1996, users are generally exempt from liability under US law for the material they post on their networks.
“This is unlikely TikTok Jeff Kosseff, who wrote a book on Chapter 230 and teaches cybersecurity law at the U.S. Naval Academy, would be responsible if there really was a shootout. “If not 230, there are many barriers to litigation against the medium in which a threat was posted.”
However, Kosseff, who received a warning, TikTok The challenge on Thursday from her daughter’s school district in Arlington, Virginia, said it didn’t mean TikTok can’t do anything about it.
“They have a lot of flexibility to do the right thing and remove harmful content. “I am hopeful that they will do that.”
The threats enraged educators nationwide.
“Whether as a joke or with malicious intent, it is unacceptable. We know that our school staff will do everything in their power to keep our students safe,” Iowa School Boards and Iowa School Administrators Association, Iowa State Education Association officials said in a joint statement.
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Associated Press writer Matt O’Brien contributed from Providence, Rhode Island.
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