School districts are warning parents and students of possible threats that will be made at campuses today.
This is a part of an apparent challenge going viral on TikTok. A high school in Gilroy will be planning a preemptive closure for the day as a result. Officials across the districts have noted that the TikTok challenge is a national trend and none of the threats are believed to be credible. Schools in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania increased their police presence Friday due to the alleged threats while schools in California, Minnesota, Missouri and Texas closed for the day.
TikTok said in a statement it handles “even rumored threats with utmost seriousness."
"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," the statement posted to Twitter 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. If we did find promotion of violence on our platform, we'd remove and report it to law enforcement."