Headteachers’ association ASCL has asked for an urgent meeting with the social media company TikTok over offensive videos targeting teachers and school leaders, the TES reports.
According to general secretary Geoff Barton, some of the clips, which use pictures pulled from school websites, are “highly insulting” and contain homophobic abuse.
Mr Barton said: “We are deeply concerned that a number of offensive and defamatory videos have been posted on the TikTok platform targeting members of school staff, including some that make highly insulting and unfounded allegations and contain homophobic abuse.
“Although these posts appear to be in clear contravention of TikTok’s community guidelines it appears that, in the majority of cases, no action has been taken by TikTok to remove them after a complaint has been made.”
In addition to contacting TikTok, ASCL has raised the issue with the governments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Worcester News has reported on the “trend”, where bogus Tiktok accounts are set up in the name of a school then use to post offensive content. Numerous schools in the area had been affected, it said.