Congress of the United States

House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

October 8, 2021

Mr. Shou Zi Chew

Chief Executive Officer
TikTok
5800 Bristol Parkway, Suite 100
Culver City, California 90230

Dear Mr. Chew,

I write to express my deep concern over the recent viral videos and posts on TikTok that incite
violence and encourage vandalism within schools. In my own community, administrators faced
wreckage ranging from stolen soap dispensers to inoperable bathrooms because of the deplorable
“Devious Licks” challenge. I urge TikTok to not only publicly address these inexcusable trends,
but to take immediate action to moderate deplorable content and remove the troubling videos that
have been previously posted.

The failure to control the spread of this dangerous content has placed educators, faculty, staff and
other students at risk. As schools return to in-person learning, families and educators continue to
cope with the unprecedented social and emotional fallout of the pandemic. Now, more than ever,
our school systems should not need to focus valuable staff time responding to cruel interruptions
by students, who themselves are targeted by social media encouraging lawlessness, self-harm
and reckless, dangerous behavior.

TikTok has been repeatedly misused and abused to promote behavior and actions that encourage
harmful and destructive acts. There have been reports on the recent TikTok trend “Devious
Licks,” where students film themselves stealing from their schools and destroying classroom
property. As a part of this trend, teens participate in clogging toilets and defacing bathrooms,
which places an additional burden on custodial crews, as well as increased administrative costs.
Another disturbing challenge for the month of October is titled “Slap a Teacher” which directs a
student to physically assault an educator for the enjoyment of receiving likes, shares, and
popularity. Each and every person, especially teachers, deserves our utmost respect. Cheering
others to strike another person is not comical. It is unsuitable to behave in this manner toward
anyone, much less a teacher.
As you know, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act limited the liability of internet
companies, like TikTok, regarding user-generated content on their platforms. However, the law
did not prohibit such companies from moderating user-generated content themselves. In fact,
Congress has explicitly granted platforms safe harbor for self-regulating user-generated content
that is determined to be harassing or otherwise objectionable. In part due to these advantages
granted by Congress, TikTok has a responsibility to make a good faith effort to moderate this
offensive content more effectively. As our society continues to grapple with the negative effects
of misinformation and disinformation spread throughout social media platforms, this deeply
troubling trend in our schools is just the latest example of social media platforms failing to
uphold their end of the deal.

Social media platforms, like TikTok, have successfully captivated the attention of adolescents.
With that success comes a responsibility to review and moderate unacceptable and dangerous
content. A commitment to reform is desperately needed, and I look forward to discussing this
critical matter and a pathway to improve. Please have a member of your staff contact our team to
discuss solutions.

Sincerely,

Joseph D. Morelle
Member of Congress