The government has said it is working with TikTok to tackle videos posted by students that insult teachers and in some cases subject them to racist and homophobic abuse.
The move follows concerns voiced by headteachers yesterday over the “offensive” videos featuring pictures of staff taken from school websites.
Responding to Tes’ story yesterday, some teachers said their schools had issued mobile phone bans in reaction to the videos, while others said police had been involved.
Now the Department for Education has said it is “engaging with” TikTok over the videos, some of which are being posted from bogus school accounts or purport to be fan pages.
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A government spokesperson said: “It is never acceptable for anyone to harass or intimidate teachers and other education staff.
“Any instance of online abuse is abhorrent, and online criminal attacks should be immediately reported to the police.
TikTok videos ‘subject teachers to worst allegations you can imagine’
“We are engaging with TikTok on the steps being taken by them to address this issue involving teachers.
“We are clear that social media companies need to take action against harmful content on their platforms and we are introducing laws which will usher in a new era of accountability for these social media companies.”
Some of the videos contain “the worst allegations you could imagine”, according to one teacher on Twitter.
They seem to be making accounts with the school name as the username. My friends were looking up their old school last night and it is really the worst allegations you could imagine, posted in public, over and over again.
- Miss W ?????? (@teacherthunks) November 7, 2021
TikTok said it takes all reports of hate speech or bullying and harassment “extremely seriously”.
A spokesperson added: “Our Community Guidelines make clear that we do not tolerate content that contains bullying or harassment, statements targeting an individual, or hateful speech or behaviour, and we remove content that violates these guidelines.”
The social media platform is yet to respond to queries from Tes as to whether it will hold a meeting with the Association of School and College Leaders, as requested by the union’s leader, Geoff Barton.
