TikTok acts following Kerry principal’s plea to remove harmful content about students

Speaking to the Irish Examiner this week, Mr Healy, who himself is a father to teenagers, said he is advocating for teachers to be more aware of the resources available to protect the welfare of students nationwide.

“Social media isn't going away,” he said.

"It can be very positive, and it can be very helpful in the educational sector as well. But it can also be misused or abused, and that's the issue we’re having.” 

Mr Healy added that the school has experienced problems with "a small minority" of students in younger years bullying other students with videos posted under fake profiles.

“It was just awful, some of the stuff that was put up,” he said, adding that the school has liaised with local gardaí in the past to try to get videos removed from the platform.

The content is very upsetting, and the student comes to us to ask what we can do about it, but two or three weeks later the video is still up as we couldn’t remove it — TikTok had to, and we couldn’t reach them.” 

The principal was contacted by TikTok after speaking of his frustration on Radio Kerry this week, and the platform “engaged meaningfully” with the school to remove the problematic content.

Mr Healy was also informed of a dedicated channel that educators like himself can use to get such videos removed.

He said: “How is this not known to every principal in Ireland? This should be disseminated to every school in the country. I know a lot of other principals that are having the exact same issues.” 

A TikTok spokesperson told the Irish Examiner: “While the fastest way to report incidents is through the TikTok app, DCU’s Anti Bullying Centre can escalate reports on behalf of the educator community to the trust and safety team at TikTok.

“TikTok continues to engage with educational bodies to promote the channels by which educators can report incidents.”