Schools across the United States are dealing with vandalism due to the recent viral devious lick trend on TikTok.
After the end of covid-19 pandemic, life started becoming somewhat usual as students returned to school in September. But something was different about their behavior, as the schools were facing severe vandalism on their property. School equipment like soaps, paper towels, electronic whiteboards, hand sanitizers, and face masks was either getting stolen or ruined.
This was quite an alarming situation. But turns out this was another viral trend on TikTok known as ‘devious licks’. Students were posting videos on TikTok with the stolen and damaged school properties while bragging about their theft. These videos were also receiving an insane amount of likes and views.
According to Urban Dictionary, the term ‘lick’ means a “successful type of theft which results in an acceptable, impressive and rewarding payday for the protagonist.” True to its meaning, this sentiment was reflected in the videos posted by the students, as they exhibited great pride over vandalizing school property.
How is TikTok dealing with the impacts of the ‘devious lick’ trend?
Through its various challenges like ‘Break the Skull’ and ‘Back Cracking’, TikTok has played a crucial role in causing life-long injuries to teenagers and young adults. However, it never hesitates from responding to the negative impacts of its viral trends and challenges.
In response to the devious lick trend, a representative of TikTok 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.”
It has also removed all videos, hashtags, and audio related to this trend from its app. But this brings up a larger question- how is curbing a viral trend a long-term solution? As compared to removing videos promoting indecent and irresponsible actions after they get viral, the correct way would be to ensure that such videos never get viral at all.
