TikTok removing ‘devious lick challenge’ content and redirecting hashtags

Many schools in the San Antonio area are reporting vandalism in recent days

NEISD and other local school districts are reporting vandalism in school bathrooms. (NEISD)

TikTok has issued a response about a popular video challenge that has teens vandalizing high school bathrooms across the country, including here in San Antonio.

Officials with the social media platform say content related to the popular “devious lick” or “bathroom challenge” trend is being removed and hashtags are being redirected. It’s become popular in recent days to post videos of items stolen and vandalized at schools.

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“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,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement sent to KSAT.

The statement is in response to KSAT’s story about schools in the Northeast Independent School District reporting damage in school bathrooms. Many other schools in other districts in San Antonio, and across the country, have reported similar vandalism. Frustrated school officials are taking to social media themselves to urge students to stop.

Dobie parents, we need your help. Over the past few days we have had multiple bathrooms vandalized to the point that...

Posted by J. Frank Dobie Jr. High on Monday, September 13, 2021

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About the Author:

Julie Moreno has worked in local television news for more than 25 years. She came to KSAT as a news producer in 2000. After producing thousands of newscasts, she transitioned to the digital team in 2015. She writes on a wide variety of topics from breaking news to trending stories and manages KSAT’s daily digital content strategy.