Following the completion of a social media challenge, four youths in Oldham County, Kentucky, were charged with making terroristic threats. According to reports, the youngsters recorded themselves informing their teachers they carried weapons or bombs in their bags and uploaded the footage on TikTok. According to reports, the teenagers said they got the concept from a challenge they saw on the well-known social media app.
Three of the 15-year-old Oldham High School pupils were accused of making terroristic threats. A fourth South Oldham High School student, also 15, was accused of harassing communications about the same issue. All concerned students have been placed on indefinite academic suspension and must first undergo a mental health evaluation before being given permission to return to school.
The consequences will be harsh, despite the fact that the kids may have thought their behavior was only a lighthearted prank to get more “likes” on social media. Threatening a public school in any way, whether in writing or verbally, is against the law. If a student threatens a public school, they will be subject to both school-level punishment and legal consequences (to the “fullest extent of the law”).
Parents are asked to explain the gravity of this kind of behavior to their kids and to assist them understand that the repercussions of their acts are the same whether they have malicious intent or not. On social media, a task that seems “fun” can turn out to have far-reaching effects.
Monitoring their children’s social media accounts and alerting authorities to anything that seems harmful or terroristic are other ways that parents can assist their children. Since social media tends to blur the lines in these areas, open communication with kids and discussions that may aid them in differentiating between “harmless fun” and terrorism are essential.
Students should also be aware that terrorist threats, even those that are intended to be a hoax, have an impact on the entire community since they make everyone stressed and anxious, including teachers, parents, administrators, and children.
