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 “absolute devious licks”— luz (@luz) 1631303650.0
@lvzelena @dulcechaelin freshmen keep stealing the fire alarms at my school 💀💀💀— BaderSZN (@BaderSZN) 1631728540.0
@lvzelena Someone stole our soap dispenser 💀— dog (@dog) 1631668973.0
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* https://t.co/YS4vhpHpZ5— Femboy Sigmachad (CEO arc) 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇵🇸🔆 (@Femboy Sigmachad (CEO arc) 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇵🇸🔆) 1631754335.0
Apparently someone took the devious lick challenge on TikTok too far and actually kidnapped their principal… https://t.co/U1ok7dhCFs— 𝕭𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖔 𝕽𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖊𝖒 (@𝕭𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖔 𝕽𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖊𝖒) 1631321076.0
The "devious lick" trend gon leave schools lookin like this https://t.co/XkR5kggxlB— Suhas (@Suhas) 1631277416.0
an absolute devious lick is occuring https://t.co/ZVRq5cwdjb— wunder (@wunder) 1631395985.0
your honor my client did not commit grand larceny he just got an absolute devious lick 😈 https://t.co/LhAuYUUrU9— Yisus (@Yisus) 1631219920.0
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’t be the only one seeing these high school kids hitting devious licks on my tik tok. Mfs be coming home w… https://t.co/LYNxcICHzF— Connor McCracken (@Connor McCracken) 1631234902.0
Hit this devious lick on the second day of school https://t.co/cM8qryrmWt— brick eater (@brick eater) 1631306618.0
POV the devious lick went too far https://t.co/j7NF4AE0i1— nella 🍒 ting’s wife (@nella 🍒 ting’s wife) 1631312715.0
Just hit a devious lick https://t.co/f4ln0jbLIq— Kanye East (@Kanye East) 1631571814.0
Who on earth started the devious lick trend😭— $ (@$) 1631294124.0
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.