Blumenthal, Connecticut school leaders call for action from TikTok and parental involvement to stop school vandalism videos

TikTok is glorifying theft and vandalism in Connecticut schools through widely seen “bathroom challenge” videos that encourage students to smash up lavatories and steal school property, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and the head of the state school superintendents group said Monday.

Blumenthal accused the social media platform of exploiting children to make money, citing over 94,000 videos showing students throughout the nation ripping soap and paper towel dispensers from walls, smashing mirrors, clogging toilets and boasting about stolen school property.

“It’s all about the business model,” Blumenthal said at a press conference at the state Capitol with Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents.

Asked how many school districts in the state have been affected, Rabinowitz said, “more than several — many,” including Farmington, Fairfield, Greenwich and Weston. Glastonbury also has been hit, the superintendent there said last week, and New Britain Superintendent Nancy Sarra wrote a letter to parents saying middle and high school students have taken part in the challenge.

“We are hopeful that TikTok will continue to monitor and remove any negative images, information around school vandalism,” Sarra wrote. “Please speak with your children about the value of their education and that all students deserve to feel they are learning in a safe environment.

“This collective responsibility,” she continued, “will ensure we rise above the negative presence and influence of social media that is currently encouraging students to vandalize our schools.”

Also labeled “devious licks,” challenge videos have depicted vandalism to trophy cases, hallways and classrooms and theft of fire extinguishers, school signs and other property, according to news reports from around the nation. In one Connecticut school, Rabinowitz said, a Smart Board was unscrewed from a wall.

Teachers and administrators dealing with precautions around the coronavirus pandemic do not need the extra headache of responding to vandalism and monitoring bathrooms, she said. Asked if the students found responsible should be expelled, Rabinowitz said she does not favor discipline that removes students from school, but perpetrators and their parents will be held accountable for damages.

Fairfield Superintendent Mike Cummings wrote to parents last week that vandalism to bathrooms in the middle and high schools had been investigated and those involved have been disciplined, “including detentions, restorative measures and paying for repairs and/or replacement.”

Cummings asked parents to “please talk to your kids and let them know that this is not a harmless prank, but destruction of school property that has very serious consequences.”

TikTok spokesperson Mahsau Cullinane said Monday that the company continues to remove the videos and referred to a statement sent to The Courant last week: “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.”

Blumenthal, however, said that response is “too little, too late.”

Citing other dangerous viral challenges that have circulated widely on the platform, the senator called on TikTok to identify each person responsible for the videos and ban them from the platform. He also called on TikTok executives to come before a Congressional consumer protection subcommittee that he chairs to testify about how they will make the site safer.

The trend started on Sept. 1 when a TikTokker @jugg4elias posted a video of what appeared to be a box of disposable masks stolen from a school, Newsweek reported. Another user then posted a similar video with what appeared to be a bottle of hand sanitizer stolen from a school. The trend spread from there and began to include vandalism to bathrooms and other school property, according to news reports.

TikTok has come under fire for inspiring other hazardous trends. Blumenthal cited the “blackout challenge,” in which kids are encouraged to hold their breath until they pass out. CBS News reported that the challenge has been linked to the deaths of several children. Another popular stunt called the “milk crate challenge” had people stacking the plastic containers and then trying to climb and walk across the shaky structures.

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com