Another threat from the Chinese social media site tik tok. This is the letter sent out by Paso Robles school district
Good evening PRJUSD parents, students, and staff.
Paso Robles joint unified school district staff were informed today of videos posted as a tik tok challenge threatening nationwide school shootings on December 17, 2021. Although there is no information indicating these warnings are directed to any of our schools or even our region, we are working closely with our county office of education and local law enforcement agencies who are monitoring online content and, as a precaution, providing additional police presence.
We continue to ask parents and guardians to speak with their children about using social media platforms mindfully and not to share information that may be inaccurate. Additionally, if anyone sees something suspicious, please report it immediately to the school or law enforcement. We take all threats seriously and will respond to ensure the safety of all students and staff.
Thank you for your continued support in keeping our schools a safe learning environment for all of our students.
Sent on behalf of
Superintendent Curt Dubost
Again, that’s a letter sent out to staff and families in the Paso Robles school district. Similar letters are being sent out in every school district in California.
The threats are being made on tik tok, which is a Chinese-owned social media company. Tik tok was launched in 2017. It hosts a variety of short-form user videos like pranks, stunts, tricks, jokes, dance and entertainment with durations from 15 seconds to three minutes.
You may remembr in August of 2020, then President Donald Trump signed an order which would ban tik tok transactions in 45 days if it was not sold to an American company. Trump said on August 14th of 2020 that there is “credible evidence” that leads him to believe that byte dance, or tik tok as it’s known, and I quote, “Might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”
Tik tok considered selling the American portion of its business and talked with several companies including Microsoft, Walmart and oracle. Tik tok filed a lawsuit in September 2020, tik tok vs Trump. On October 30th of that year, a Pennyslvania judge ruled against the commerce department, blocking them from restricting tik tok. The commerce department appealed in December of 2020.
In June of this year, president Biden signed an executive order revoking the Trump administration ban on tik tok. Instead, he ordered the secretary of commerce to investigate the app to determine if it poses a threat to US national security.
Tik tok has been the platform for devious likes in which people suggested kids commit vandalism against their schools. Another tik tok viral challenge was called, “slap a teacher.” In one instance, a teacher was seriously injured by an assault based on the tik tok challenge. Now, there is the suggestion of gun violence at schools in the US.
Again, there is no threat of violence reported in San Luis Obispo county, but teachers and administrators are taking the threats seriously and asking students and teachers to report any unusual activity.
