TikTok, the famous social media video app, has always been riddled with controversy. Whether this controversy involves the security issues associated with the app or the content its users post, it is not hard to find someone expressing their concern. But most people agree that the TikTok community went too far with the recent devious lick trend.

The devious lick trend started on September 1, 2021 when a TikToker by the name of jugg4elias posted a video with the caption “one month into school and already got this devious lick.” In the video, he pulled out a box of disposable masks, suggesting that he stole the masks. This video soon went viral, causing students across the country to replicate the trend by stealing objects from school campuses.  Elias’ account has since been deleted by TikTok to try and stop the spread of the problematic behavior.

Unfortunately, Tik Tok officials acted much too late,and the trend became one of the most famous challenges to ever be featured on the platform.  Elias’ video sparked countless other clips depicting videos of students stealing items such as paper towel dispensers, wet floors signs, and personal items from teachers. One kid managed to top them all by stealing a school bus.

One problem that a lot of schools have been reporting is that there are bathroom utensils and utilities that have gone missing, and it is likely they were stolen. Most report that it is something small like a soap dispenser or the paper towels, but some are reporting that their toilets and sinks have been stolen.

Many other schools decided to go ahead and close many boys’ bathrooms, a response to the bathroom items being stolen, yet that didn’t stop the trend.  Reports of other essential items being stolen followed soon after. Things like security cameras, internet servers and even whole computers went missing. One school was even hacked: all their computers were ruined and had a blue screen of death.

Many schools have decided to offer bounties for any info about stolen items. One school offered $500 for video evidence of a kid who stole a sink. Now this devious lick trend is losing popularity primarily because of kids getting arrested and being sold out by their peers. There are far less kids stealing school property now, but the trend was so popular that some variants appeared.

The angelic hit trend was a variant of the devious lick fad that has since gone viral, but this challenge consists of doing nice things for the school, such as hiding $20 in a bathroom for a student to find. The most popular angelic hit video shared involved a student who remodeled his old school bathroom into something more state of the art; it also came with a butler.

There have also been more negative challenges that have spawned from the devious lick, such as the slap a teacher challenge. In this trend, the goal is to punch your teacher in the face and see if you can get away with it. School administrators think that this will not be the last we hear of kids doing things like this, as well as other dangerous trends coming from the site; many believe TikTok is doing too little to stop the videos. After these events, many are questioning whether or not TikTok is a fun, innocent website or a dangerous website that spawns injuries and crimes.