From soap dispensers in bathrooms to desk lamps in classrooms, schools all over the country have been hit by vandalism and theft over a Tiktok trend. 

The devious lick trend got its start on Tiktok. If you don’t know what Tiktok is, it is a Chinese-owned social media platform where you have creative freedom with 15-second videos to 3-minute short video clips. 

There is unlimited freedom on Tiktok, but some trends tend to get out of control. 

What is a devious lick? A devious lick is an act of stealing property or vandalizing in a school or other public places then posting a video about it on social media. 

North Penn has been affected by the devious licks. Some bathrooms have been closed at the high school for the past two weeks. All of the middle schools in our district have been using a brand new bathroom procedure because of them too. 

Tiktok has taken away the hashtag #deviouslicks due to a violation of their guidelines. If you try to search it up “devious licks” you will get an error message. This hasn’t stopped people from posting their videos like it though. The trend is still growing at a tremendous rate after almost a month of being alive.

Now, this might seem like an innocent act of taking a little thing from a school, but you can get into legal trouble. 

Think about it, you are essentially stealing money. The schools have to pay for these things with taxpayers’ money and other school funds. Fines and detentions are the more reasonable punishments given to students who pull a devious lick. Arrests for theft and vandalism are rare but have happened to students after pulling devious licks around the country. 

Devious licks are really showing the extreme that social media trends can go to. Back in 2016, the big trend was the tide pods. This year it is devious licks. Both are extreme acts of danger to yourself or others.