As is often the case when a hot new social media platform takes over the world, TikTok has proved to be something of a mixed bag for us.
Because while it’s easy enough to find harmless entertainment on there and positive examples for how the app has brought people together, we would be lying if we said that it hasn’t also made it easy to spread some ill-advised and sometimes even destructive ideas.
Unfortunately, the massive reach and fast-paced nature of TikTok’s communities are such that when one of these ideas hits the platform, it can quickly see real-world consequences in many different places at once.
And this power has recently been illustrated in an unusual yet pernicious trend that is causing serious problems for American schools.
On September 1, a TikTok user named @jugg4elias uploaded a now-deleted video apparently depicting them removing a box of stolen face masks from their backpack.
They described this action as a “devious lick,” and Insider reported that this entails a successful theft that brought a perpetrator bountiful results.
As one of the copycat videos suggests, it wasn’t long before other students become more adventurous about what they stole from their schools. In this case, it seems one user made off with an entire paper towel dispenser.
As this trend spread, schools started to see more and more of their equipment go missing.
According to Insider, these included SMART boards, soap dispensers, toilet paper dispenser shields like the one you see here, and projectors worth hundreds of dollars each.
The North East Independent School District in Texas was apparently hit particularly hard as schools there had not only seen these dispensers ripped off the walls, but also mirrors and light fixtures.
In the two weeks since the trend has started, schools and parent associations in Florida, Georgia and California have also spoken out against it.
In the video shown here, a morning announcement can be heard in which an administrator warned, “For those who are participating, please know when we do catch you, we will discipline you to the fullest extent and you will be arrested, and you will be responsible for any of the monetary damages that have been done.”
She also mentioned that one of the school’s bathrooms was closed and the others were without both soap and the accompanying dispensers.
In recent days, TikTok itself has started taking action against the trend as both the #deviouslick and #devious hashtags have been removed.
According to a follow-up article from Insider, staff have also redirected searches for variations on “devious lick” to a landing page warning that the phrase is linked to material that’s against their community guidelines.
Likely not coincidentally, videos featuring actual examples of these “licks” are quickly becoming unavailable. It’s unclear whether this is TikTok’s doing or simply attempts to evade punishment by those responsible, though.
h/t: Insider
