Have you heard of the "devious licks" TikTok trend?
For those of us who are just tuning in, "devious licks" appears to be a challenge where a student damages or steals school property and then uploads a video of the act to the platform.
Needless to say, this trend has been extremely disruptive for underfunded American schools.
A couple of instances got so bad school principals were recorded losing their cool and uploaded to TikTok, even threatening the vandals with expulsion and putting in place serious bathroom rules in order to minimize the property damage.
my favorite tiktok trend rn is students committing larceny by stealing shit around their school and calling it \u201cabsolute devious licks\u201d— luz (@luz) 1631303650
freshmen keep stealing the fire alarms at my school— BaderSZN (@BaderSZN) 1631728540
Someone stole our soap dispenser— dog (@dog) 1631668973
The situation has actually gotten so out of control that peers of the TikTokers committing the actions have become fed up with it.
Several Twitter posts have condemned the "devious licks" trend as acts of domestic terrorism or grand larceny, and have shown that the trend is extremely disruptive to underpaid school employees, such as custodians and teachers.
TikTok kids be like "Just pulled off the most devious lick " *commits domestic terrorism*pic.twitter.com/YS4vhpHpZ5— Femboy Sigmachad (CEO arc) \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udd06 (@Femboy Sigmachad (CEO arc) \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udd06) 1631754335
Apparently someone took the devious lick challenge on TikTok too far and actually kidnapped their principal\u2026pic.twitter.com/U1ok7dhCFs— \ud835\udd6d\ud835\udd97\ud835\udd86\ud835\udd93\ud835\udd89\ud835\udd94 \ud835\udd7d\ud835\udd8a\ud835\udd96\ud835\udd9a\ud835\udd8e\ud835\udd8a\ud835\udd92 (@\ud835\udd6d\ud835\udd97\ud835\udd86\ud835\udd93\ud835\udd89\ud835\udd94 \ud835\udd7d\ud835\udd8a\ud835\udd96\ud835\udd9a\ud835\udd8e\ud835\udd8a\ud835\udd92) 1631321076
The "devious lick" trend gon leave schools lookin like thispic.twitter.com/XkR5kggxlB— Suhas (@Suhas) 1631277416
an absolute devious lick is occuringpic.twitter.com/ZVRq5cwdjb— wunder (@wunder) 1631395985
your honor my client did not commit grand larceny he just got an absolute devious lick pic.twitter.com/LhAuYUUrU9— Yisus (@Yisus) 1631219920
The trend has left already struggling schools breathless and unclear of how best to curb the behavior.
"I didn't think much of it, thought it was just a joke," a TikToker told The Daily Dot.
"But it started happening to my school and many bathrooms and classrooms with valuable items were closed down."
Bro I can\u2019t be the only one seeing these high school kids hitting devious licks on my tik tok. Mfs be coming home with smart boards.pic.twitter.com/vTUDV90QJB— Connor McCracken (@Connor McCracken) 1631234902
Hit this devious lick on the second day of schoolpic.twitter.com/cM8qryrmWt— brick eater (@brick eater) 1631306618
POV the devious lick went too farpic.twitter.com/j7NF4AE0i1— nella \ud83c\udf52 ting\u2019s wife (@nella \ud83c\udf52 ting\u2019s wife) 1631312715
Just hit a devious lickpic.twitter.com/f4ln0jbLIq— Kanye East (@Kanye East) 1631571814
Who on earth started the devious lick trend— $ (@$) 1631294124
The trend, sadly, only shows signs of escalating for the time being. Hopefully this will go the way of the Tide Pod trend and end sooner rather than later.
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC