In a terrifying incident, school districts across the United States decided to cancel classes on Friday in response to reports of threats made on the short-video app TikTok that children and teachers should skip school due to “supposed threats of shootings or bombings.”
Schools canceled classes in response to the alleged threats, as a new wave of videos surfaced with additional warnings based on both the alleged claims and the actual, factual cancellations of some school classes”, according to The Verge.
In response to the threats, school districts in California, Texas, Minnesota, and Missouri announced that they would close their doors on Friday.
“Elsewhere, districts have said they plan to have heightened police presence or have emailed parents to say they’ve been investigating the allegations,” the report said late Thursday.
According to several districts and law enforcement divisions, the threats are not credible or even real.
“Law enforcement agencies have investigated this threat and determined that it originated in Arizona and is not credible,” Baltimore County Public Schools posted on Twitter.
“Currently, there have been no threats to any of the schools in Mexico, (Missouri),” wrote a Missouri school district.
“There have been no local, credible threats,” Ohio’s Milford Exempted Village School District wrote to parents.
In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy tweeted: “There are no known specific threats against New Jersey schools.”
TikTok stated that it has not identified any videos that make specific threats.
“We have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok,” the company tweeted.
Nonetheless, TikTok stated that it is working with law enforcement to investigate the warnings with “utmost seriousness.”
“At least one police department says it viewed a message threatening a school on Friday: Police in Gilroy, California describe a threatening post that included initials matching a local high school, and school was cancelled as a result,” the report noted.
