Police chief urges parents to warn kids about 'incredibly worrying' TikTok trends which cause crime and harm

A police chief has urged all parents to be aware of ‘incredibly worrying’ TikTok crazes which may put children’s lives at risk after teenagers overdosed on paracetamol because they were encouraged to do so by one of the latest trends on the social media network.

Donna Jones, the chairwoman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) has said that problematic trends, such as this one, are a sign of “societal breakdown” and appealed to parents and carers to teach their children about the potential dangers and consequences of taking part.

Jones said that a “handful” of 15 to 17-year-olds took paracetamol in Southampton over the weekend in a bid to see who could stay in hospital the longest after copying a trend they had seen on social media.

She told the PA news agency: “This is a real indication of societal breakdown. This has not just suddenly appeared from nowhere. We’ve seen the warning signs of this coming for a really long time. We know these types of incidents are happening in America, and what happens in America very often gets here within a 12-month period.”

Jones also appeared on the Radio 4 Today programme earlier today (Tuesday 15 August) to discuss the topic. Speaking further about the incident, she added: “Of course this is incredibly worrying. It is putting young lives in danger and I don’t think they understand the fun could be very worrying. It is taking up much needed ambulance and police time. We can’t afford for that to happen and I think parents need to get involved.”

‘Morally abhorrent behaviour’

Jones also spoke about the incident which happened on Oxford Street last week, in which plans for anti-social behaviour on London’s famous shopping street were organised via TikTok. Several people were arrested after the incident, on Wednesday 9 August, and Home Secretary Suella Braverman said those responsible should be hunted down.

Jones told the PA news agency she believes parents could be fined over the behaviour of youngsters who take part in incidents such as the Oxford Street incident.  She added: “Hundreds of young people rampaging through London shops, which are putting their security shutters down… You know, this is Britain in 2023. This is incredibly worrying, and somebody needs to call it out.”

She then said she supported Braverman’s call for those who commit such “morally abhorrent” behaviour to be stopped. She said: “The Home Secretary has said this has got to stop, it’s not good enough. I support her in that but I’m going one step further to say the draw on police resources is wholly unacceptable.

“This is mindless vandalism, and it’s also criminal activity in terms of shoplifting and theft, looting, mass looting. This is taking away police hours from operational policing that they should be doing to keep genuine people that need protecting safe. We need to send a clear message – this is not acceptable and the parents need to be held accountable.”

‘Teaching children right from wrong’

Jones said she believed parents could be forced to pay the fines for the criminal behaviour of their children under the age of 16, or under 18 if in full-time education, if they take part in such behaviour.

She added: “There have to be formal sanctions taken. We also have to call out the lack of discipline, parents need to be parenting their children and teaching them right from wrong. Any parent or guardian of a young person who believes that they were in central London last week and could have been involved with that should be sitting down with that young person, having a really strong conversation with them about exactly what they have done, how it’s completely unacceptable.

“It’s criminal, and morally it’s also an abhorrent thing to do. That’s certainly what I would be doing if it was my children. And I’d like to think that’s what all decent good parents and guardians of young people should be doing, otherwise this is never going to stop.”

Speaking on the Today programme, she also said that police resources “are stretched” and that is why she is “intervening and speaking to parents”. 

No tolerance for crime encouragement

Jones appealed to social media companies such as TikTok to investigate incidents such as the Oxford street disruption, and then crack down on posts orchestrating flashmobs which encourage criminal behaviour, or explain publicly what action they are already taking to prevent incidents like this happening again.

A TikTok spokeswoman said: “We have zero tolerance for content facilitating or encouraging criminal activities. We have over 40,000 safety professionals dedicated to keeping TikTok safe – if we find content of this nature, we remove it and actively engage with law enforcement on these issues.”

This is not the first time that social media companies have been scrutinised for the impact online content can have on children. Following the death of teenager Molly Russell, who took her own life after viewing self-harm content online, a coroner called for separate social media sites for adults and children. The Online Safety Bill was passed in the UK in December to protect children and adults alike online, but it seems that more may still need to be done to help protect young people against harmful content.