Schools across the United States on high alert over TikTok shooting threats

A number of school districts in the US have canceled classes for today, December 17th, due to shooting and bomb threats supposedly circulating on TikTok and other social media channels.

According to Bloomberg and The Verge, they include districts in Michigan, Washington, California, Texas, Minnesota and Missouri. Whilst the treats don’t mention any schools by name, many schools are opting for a safety first approach.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy tweeted that while “there are no known specific threats against New Jersey schools,” authorities “will work closely with law enforcement to monitor the situation and remain prepared.” 

In most cases, law enforcement agencies announced that they haven’t found evidence that the threats are real and credible. A county sheriff in Missouri said that they don’t think their schools are going to be attacked, but they want to be prepared just in case. 

TikTok said it was investigating, but said what it found were videos discussing the alleged threat on its platform, rather than any direct threat. “We’ve exhaustively searched for content that promotes violence at schools today, but have still found nothing. What we find are videos discussing this rumor and warning others to stay safe,” it said.

“Local authorities, the FBI, and DHS have confirmed there’s no credible threat, so we’re working to remove alarmist warnings that violate our misinformation policy,” it said. “If we did find promotion of violence on our platform, we’d remove and report it to law enforcement.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was examining the threat. “The FBI takes all potential threats seriously. We regularly work with our law enforcement partners to determine the credibility of any threats,” it said in a statement.