National teachers union calls on social media companies to stop dangerous viral challenges
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The country’s largest teachers’ union urges big social media companies to stop the spread of viral challenges that put teachers at risk.
The country’s largest teachers’ union urges big social media companies to stop the spread of viral challenges that put teachers at risk.
In a letter obtained by the Wall Street Journal, the National Education Association urged tech leaders TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to prioritize the safety of educators by better regulating trends on their platforms.
The latest challenge challenges students to “slap a teacher”, causing education officials to worry about the safety of teachers.
In a tweet, TikTok said the challenge is an insult to educators around the world. “And while it’s not a trend on TikTok, if at any point it does appear, the content will be removed.”
This follows last month’s “sneaky licks†challenge where students vandalized or stole objects from school toilets. Students from Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties in Virginia participated in the challenge. In the end, TikTok ended up removing the content from the sneaky licks.
The union also called social media platforms a double-edged sword and said companies “are looking to create algorithms that will increase the fervent use of your platforms,” ​​saying companies are prioritizing to profit regardless of its effect.
The letter also addressed the growing attacks on teachers during the pandemic, referring to educators who have been attacked for applying COVID-19 protocols.
The union acknowledged the Justice Department’s directive to investigate violence against educators, but in the letter asked “where is the urgency of the very companies that helped fuel the plots causing the attacks?”
The letter went on to say that schools should be a center of learning, but that social media platforms have helped turn them into centers of a culture war.
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