Jersey Shore evacuates; schools across US monitor TikTok bomb, shooting rumors

The entrance to the Jersey Shore Area Senior High School was closed, and students were safely moved to another building following a bomb scare about 1 p.m. Friday, Tiadaghton Valley Regional police said, likely in conjunction with social media-fueled threats against schools.

There were no reports of injuries.

Officials said students were released at their regular dismissal time.

A state police-trained bomb detection dog arrived at the school about 3 p.m. and went through the building.

Educators in the region and across the country announced plans to increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting and bomb threats at schools around the country Friday as officials assured parents the viral posts were not considered credible.

School officials in states including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania said Thursday there would be an increased police presence because of the threats.

Local school districts including East Lycoming and Montgomery sent alerts to parents Thursday evening to inform them of the TikTok trend.

East Lycoming said they do not "believe the post is credible but as always will closely monitor the situation."

The Montgomery Area School District said in a message to parents that they will have an increased police presence around the schools as a precaution and reminded everyone of the Safe2Say 24-hour anonymous tip hotline available to report any potential threat posted to social media.

East Lycoming School District also pointed out that, "This situation serves as a good example of why it is important to avoid sharing posts online that refer to school safety threats. Even if they are not credible threats, they can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety for our students, families and staff. We ask our families to monitor their children's social media activity and speak with them about proper behavior."

The vague, anonymous posts circulating online warned that multiple schools would receive shooting and bomb threats.

In a statement on Twitter, TikTok said it was working with law enforcement to investigate.

"We handle even rumored threats with utmost seriousness," the statement said, "which is why we're working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok."

The posts follow a disturbing trend that has had students acting out in response to social media challenges. In September, students across the U.S. posted videos of themselves vandalizing school bathrooms and stealing soap dispensers as part of the "devious licks" challenge.

In October, students were challenged to slap a teacher, prompting the National Education Association to call on the leaders of Facebook, Twitter and TikTok to intervene.

Internet companies such as TikTok are generally exempt from liability under U.S. law for the material users post on their networks, thanks in large part to the legal "safe harbor" they are given by Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.

"It would be unlikely that TikTok would be liable if there were actually to be a shooting," said Jeff Kosseff, who wrote a book about Section 230 and teaches cybersecurity law at the U.S. Naval Academy. "Even without 230, there are just a lot of barriers against being able to bring a cause of action against the medium on which a threat was posted."

But Kosseff, who got a warning about the TikTok challenge Thursday from his daughter's school district in Arlington, Virginia, said that doesn't mean TikTok can't do something about it.

"They have a lot of flexibility to be doing the right thing and taking down harmful content. I am hopeful they are doing that," he said.

The threats outraged educators around the country.

"Whether done as a joke or with malicious intent, it's unacceptable. We know our school personnel will do everything in their power to keep our students safe," officials with the Iowa State Education Association, the Iowa Association of School Boards and School Administrators of Iowa said in a joint statement.

Sun-Gazette staff and the

Associated Press

contributed to this report.