Wasteful Theft
Lots of problems emerged when “devious licks” started gaining steam on TikTok last year. For one, the stealing challenge led to multiple teens facing criminal charges. Devious licks got kids to steal large quantities of covid-19 tests, plastic spoons, and disposable masks. And there were reportedly larger heists, too: soap dispensers, lab equipment, even toilets.
TikTok eventually removed almost all of the devious lick videos for content violations and banned related hashtags and search terms. But lots of the damage was already done.
Schools had to replace everything stolen, and the fate of the original items is mostly a mystery. Likely, much of the contraband that wasn’t returned was trashed.
