Schools step up security in response to threats on TikTok

Educators announced plans to increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting and bomb threats at schools around the country Friday as officials assured parents the viral posts were not considered credible. “We have been made aware of a nationwide viral TikTok trend about ‘school shooting and bomb threats for every school in the USA even elementary’ on Friday, December 17.” The administrators said local police departments would increase their presence around schools “out of an abundance of caution.” In a statement on Twitter, TikTok said it was working with law enforcement to investigate. “We handle even rumored threats with utmost seriousness,” the statement said, “which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok.” At least a few districts announced plans to close school buildings Friday, including Gilroy High School in northern California. “It would be unlikely that TikTok would be liable if there were actually to be a shooting,” said Jeff Kosseff, who wrote a book about Section 230 and teaches cybersecurity law at the U.S. “Even without 230, there are just a lot of barriers against being able to bring a cause of action against the medium on which a threat was posted.” But Kosseff, who got a warning about the TikTok challenge Thursday from his daughter’s school district in Arlington, Virginia, said that doesn’t mean TikTok can’t do something about it.