‘Devious Lick’ TikTok challenge creates chaos in schools

Vandalism becomes a trend to get views

School administrators and law enforcement are warning kids about TikTok’s “devious lick” challenge and have begun condemning the trend as vandalism and theft since it encourages students to post videos of themselves taking and destroying items in schools.

The “lick,” is a slang term for theft.

A video of a group of students sitting on an allegedly stolen bench was uploaded on TikTok and has been viewed 3.8 million times. Other footage on the famous video-sharing site shows damaged toilets with broken stalls and torn-down ceilings exposing pipes and insulation, while another video shows a school zip-tying hallway clocks to avoid theft.

TikTok is redirecting content, hashtags, and search results regarding the challenge to their community guidelines. The TikTok communications team posted a tweet asking users to “please be kind to your schools & teachers”.

According to Wikipedia, the trend began on September 1, 2021, when TikTok user jugg4elias posted a video with the caption “A month into school… devious lick” showing a box of disposable masks they claimed to have stolen from school. Students stole soap and paper towel dispensers, toilet paper roll shields, exit signs, and telephones, as well as urinals, sinks, floor tiles, smart boards, and microscopes. Similar videos with the phrase “devious lick” soon flooded the platform, with students stealing similar items. The videos are all associated with a sped-up version of Lil B’s “Ski Ski BasedGod” and the hashtag #devious, however, the hashtag #deviouslick was added in later challenges.

In response to a request for comment, a TikTok spokesperson said, “We expect our community to stay safe and create responsibly, and we do not allow content that promotes or enables criminal activities. We are removing this content and redirecting hashtags and search results to our Community Guidelines to discourage such behavior”.

Source today.com