Around the start of the school year a TikTok® trend began to emerge among teens and young adults. The trend known as “Devious Licks” has middle and high school aged students participating in and filming for social media various scandalous activities. These activities are primarily taking place on school grounds.
In the month of September, the “Devious Licks” challenge involved theft of school property. Easy to remove items such as soap dispensers were the most common target of the challenge. In some more extreme cases more valuable and more destructive theft has occurred.
While this trend follows suit with many other social media spawned events, it alarmingly consists of an entire school year’s worth of challenges. The challenges range from juvenile pranks to more serious events. The proposed list of challenges includes activities which include physical and sexual assault, destruction of property, and indecent exposure. These activities are crimes, and many of the participants in the challenge are unaware of the consequence of their actions. The crimes range in severity from misdemeanors to class six felonies.
District leaders around the country are taking a hard stance on this challenge and asking parents to please speak to their children about the consequences involved in partaking in this activity. In addition to strong positions from district administrators, social media platforms have been removing this type of content. Along with removing the content, platforms like TikTok® are blocking new content based on the hashtag associated with these challenges. Despite the efforts from the social media platforms and district administrators, some would be participants will continue to act out.
School leaders should review and update their social media policies accordingly and communicate the expectations for students and parents within their districts. Administrators should work to document their proactive efforts to contain these events. We are asking all districts to please document any challenges being done and report them to your claims representative.
We are here to support you in managing this latest social media challenge. Please reach out to your Henderson Brothers representative for more information or support.
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