TikTok-driven 'National Shoot up Your School Day' panic leads to several closures but no shootings
At least six districts in states ranging from New York to Montana closed schools Friday in response to a viral TikTok trend that warned of widespread school violence, The New York Times reported.
Officials in Utah alleged that the trend, known as "National Shoot up Your School Day," started as an attempt by students to get a day off school.
Aaron Mak, writing for Slate, argues that the germ of the story was more likely a Facebook screenshot that may or may not have originated in Toole County, Utah.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The anonymous author of the post threatened to carry out a shooting on Dec. 17 at a school called "GHS." There is a Granger High School in Toole County, but one school administrator told local CBS affiliate KUTV that the threat "came from out of state." Granger did not cancel classes Friday, but Gilroy High School, located outside San Francisco, California, did. Gilroy police in turn concluded the threat was actually referring to Garfield High School in Los Angeles, while other officials suggested one of the several high schools in Colorado with the initials GHS.
On Friday, TikTok said it had found no content actively promoting school violence, only videos expressing concerns about the possibility of school violence. "We're working to remove alarmist warnings," TikTok posted on its official Twitter account. "If we did find promotion of violence on our platform, we'd remove and report it to law enforcement."
Even without a credible threat, federal law enforcement still expressed concern. One source told CNN that, although the rumors about nationwide school shootings were baseless, an unstable individual exposed to them might have felt encouraged to carry out an actual attack.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
Starmer vs the farmers: who will win?
Today's Big Question As farmers and rural groups descend on Westminster to protest at tax changes, parallels have been drawn with the miners' strike 40 years ago
By The Week UK Published
-
How secure are royal palaces?
The Explainer Royal family's safety is back in the spotlight after the latest security breach at Windsor
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Magnificent Tudor castles and stately homes to visit this year
The Week Recommends The return of 'Wolf Hall' has sparked an uptick in visits to Britain's Tudor palaces
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
DOJ demands changes at 'abhorrent' Atlanta jail
Speed Read Georgia's Fulton County Jail subjects inmates to 'unconstitutional' conditions, the 16-month investigation found
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
China tries to bury deadly car attack
Speed Read An SUV drove into a crowd of people in Zhuhai, killing and injuring dozens — but news of the attack has been censored
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Menendez brothers may go free in LA prosecutor plan
Speed Read Prosecutors are asking for the brothers to be resentenced for the 1989 murder of their parents
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Abercrombie ex-CEO charged with sex crimes
Speed Read Mike Jeffries ran the brand during its heyday from 1992 to 2014
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Father of alleged Georgia school shooter arrested
Speed Read The 14-year-old's father was arrested in connection with the deaths of two teachers and two students
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump criminal trial starts with rulings, reminder
Speed Read The first day of his historic trial over hush money payments was mostly focused on jury selection
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Parents of school shooter sentenced to 10-15 years
Speed Read Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents to be convicted in a US mass shooting
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Unlicensed dealers and black market guns
Speed Read 68,000 illegally trafficked guns were sold in a five year period, said ATF
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published