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posted by hubie on Thursday July 11 2024, @06:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the embrace-the-suck dept.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/07/middle-schoolers-lash-out-at-20-teachers-with-disturbing-fake-tiktok-accounts/

A bunch of eighth graders in a "wealthy Philadelphia suburb" recently targeted teachers with an extreme online harassment campaign that The New York Times reported was "the first known group TikTok attack of its kind by middle schoolers on their teachers in the United States."

According to The Times, the Great Valley Middle School students created at least 22 fake accounts impersonating about 20 teachers in offensive ways. The fake accounts portrayed long-time, dedicated teachers sharing "pedophilia innuendo, racist memes," and homophobic posts, as well as posts fabricating "sexual hookups among teachers."

[...] Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association—which is the largest US teachers' union—told The Times that teachers have never dealt with such harassment on this scale. Typically, The Times reported, students would target a single educator at a time. Pringle said teachers risk online harassment being increasingly normalized. That "could push educators to question" leaving the profession, Pringle said, at a time when the US Department of Education is already combating a teacher shortage.

[...] TikTok's community guidelines ban impersonation, except for "parody or fan-based" accounts. The platform provides paths within the app and on its website to report impersonation, requiring teachers to show ID to request a takedown.

TikTok's enforcement so far seems uneven. Some teachers told The Times that they reported fake accounts and never heard back from TikTok. Others said they were not comfortable sharing an ID with TikTok for privacy reasons and therefore never reported the fake accounts.

[...] The only accounts that seemed to be promptly removed were four fake accounts flagged by a reporter that TikTok confirmed were deleted. TikTok found that the majority of other accounts flagged were unavailable.

[...] Reporting the behavior to TikTok could result in the most serious consequences for fans of TikTok: a ban that could trigger bans on all their other TikTok accounts. But that only happens in "the case of severe violations of our rules or engagement in circumvention behavior," TikTok's community guidelines said. That suggests that the middle schoolers would have to continually create new accounts to evade bans before TikTok may cut off their access to the platform.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Thursday July 11 2024, @06:13PM (4 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday July 11 2024, @06:13PM (#1363799)

    When I was in 8th grade we "tormented" our ( Catholic school, but not a nun ) English teacher by pre-arranging that everyone would drop their pencil on the floor then pick it up at a particular time on the clock. She was speechless - left the room, another teacher might have found it funny but she turned quite red and seemed very disturbed (more than usual) at our conspiracy against her.

    --
    🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday July 11 2024, @07:52PM (2 children)

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 11 2024, @07:52PM (#1363807)
      We tried to play a prank on our english teacher once. The idea was that at the appointed time the entire class would sneeze... in unison. It'll blow her mind! So did it? Kinda. When the time finally came less than a quarter of the room participated and those that did were so over the top you'd think they went to clown school. The teacher muttered something like "what's wrong with these kids?" and proceeded with her lesson, clearly finding us to be a burden.

      So ya... we showed her. 🤡
      --
      🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday July 11 2024, @08:55PM (1 child)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday July 11 2024, @08:55PM (#1363818)

        I think we had something like 28/30 participation, all within a couple of seconds of each other. She really should have been "above" reacting to it, but she wasn't. We didn't push her any further, for me because it felt like she might actually have a breakdown.

        --
        🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Thursday July 11 2024, @10:16PM

          by anubi (2828) on Thursday July 11 2024, @10:16PM (#1363823) Journal

          She well may have.

          I see this as a re-run of the Stanford Prison Experiment where the students are the "protected class" who know they can launch hurts and not have to take the consequences.

          Schadenfreude results.

          I've seen this happen too many times in rank-based structures, now that I know what to look for. All the resultant infighting and politics take the company, even an entire nation down.

          --
          "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Thursday July 11 2024, @08:22PM

      by anubi (2828) on Thursday July 11 2024, @08:22PM (#1363812) Journal

      Sixty years ago...

      Ours was placing a frog in the teacher's desk.

      We tried snakes, but those slithered away before the show was to commence.

      Theft and mutilation of gràdebooks was occasionally done, tacks in the seat, and stealing the chalkboard erasers.

      Shooting rubber bands, making fart noises. Asking stupid trick questions.

      Leaving dog poo around her desk to see how long she would avoid it.

      Kids will be kids...but the means have changed.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
  • (Score: 5, Touché) by Snort on Thursday July 11 2024, @08:49PM

    by Snort (5141) on Thursday July 11 2024, @08:49PM (#1363816)

    a bunch of assholes in general. So I am not super surprised. It will be interesting to see if they are actually held responsible.

  • (Score: 4, Funny) by NotSanguine on Thursday July 11 2024, @08:54PM (3 children)

    This is nothing new. In fact, there's nothing new under the sun, IMNSHO. The only difference is that the world gets to see it on TikTok.

    Flaming bags of poop on the teachers' porches FTW!

    "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school
    We have tortured every teacher, we have broken every rule.
    We snuck into the office and we hung the principal
    Our truth goes marching on!

    Glory, glory hallelujah
    Teacher hit me with a ruler
    I met her at the door with a loaded .44
    And she ain't my teacher no more

    https://babyboomersresource.com/knowledge-library/bus-songs-Glory-Glory-Halleluia.htm [babyboomersresource.com]

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday July 11 2024, @09:10PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday July 11 2024, @09:10PM (#1363820)

      We didn't have TikTok, so we just whispered behind the P.E. coaches' backs about them being homo-pedos... at the time I thought it was just middle school kids being immature jerks, but over time (many years later) I came to believe those coaches probably were homo-pedos. This was a Catholic school in the late 70s, so of course there was a national scandal going on about Catholic priests having "inappropriate touching relationships" with altar boys all over, but our priest was probably the straightest most normal authority figure in that whole place.

      --
      🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday July 12 2024, @02:27PM (1 child)

      by Freeman (732) on Friday July 12 2024, @02:27PM (#1363885) Journal

      Kids nowadays would get a visit from the police, if they were singing that on the bus.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2024, @03:57PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2024, @03:57PM (#1363897)

        Copyright violation?

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2024, @07:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2024, @07:05PM (#1363909)

    Stepping aside the fact that: malevolent manipulation by youngsters is easier today (which is a whole different topic).

    Kids can be cruel, and teachers, whether they be fresh out of college, or near retirement, are capable of suffering just as much as the school kid who gets bullied. Part of that ties into the above different topic, and partly not.

    In youth: we think we are invincible, we tend to be more self-assured, bold and confident; and we also think that our elders, whether we think them stupid or rigid, or this or that, or whatever...
    ...We also tend to think they are still the stronger, bigger creature.

    Then, you get older, and you realize that is not the case, heh. You become weaker, and only the external pressures of the Universe, tend to get bigger and stronger. About the only saving grace, is perhaps: wisdom and experience. And that's rare enough. And to top that off, 50 years of wisdom can be superseded by wisdom of almost anyone of almost any age, at any moment.

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