Deadly social media trend threatens kids, homeowners defending themselves: 'children are going to get killed'

Yahoo

05-07-2025

Potentially dangerous social media trends are getting kids, and potentially homeowners, into trouble this summer while kids are out of school.
Two trends in particular are going viral on social media, including the "UrbanEx," or "urban exploration," challenge and the "door-kicking challenge."
"There's a new trend every day. … You go to the FYP, the For You Page, you see what's trending. And then pretty soon, you'll see content created by children, which is in and of itself problematic. A lot of the children under the age of 13 … are legally not allowed to even be on social media," Titania Jordan, CMO and chief parent officer at Bark Technologies, a parental control app, told Fox News Digital.
Social media challenges prompt users to create more "content that elicits a reaction," she explained, "that has viral components, resurfaces and resurfaces again, thanks again to the algorithm."
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"This sort of content is going to get likes, it's going to get comments, it is going to get shares. It's going to encourage children to try to emulate it because it's clout — they gain clout from their peers because of this," she said. "…Any challenge like this, children aren't thinking, 'Is this the right thing to do? Is this safe?' They're thinking, 'I want validation,' and children are going to get killed. I mean, just one person who is armed who gets their door kicked in by a kid, and you're gonna have another national headline that is very sad."
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Law enforcement agencies across the country are warning of both trends, the former of which challenges social media users to explore abandoned buildings and the latter of which challenges them to kick in strangers' doors.
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While the door-kicking challenge has existed for years, multiple agencies have issued recent warnings, indicating a possible uptick in the trend this summer. An Ohio police department recently warned about the challenge, saying it is investigating four incidents that occurred in Byesville.
"Reports of doors being kicked in on homes began to come in during the middle of the night. Officers have collected evidence from neighborhoods indicating that a social media trend called the 'Door Kicking Challenge' is behind these acts," the Byesville Police Department said in a Facebook post. "The suspects are not entering the homes; instead, they are merely kicking the front doors and then fleeing the scene."
Byesville police added that authorities are collecting physical evidence from the scenes of these crimes, including video footage.
Byesville PD Chief Daulton Dolan told Fox News Digital that the door-kick challenges take "ding dong ditch" to a new level, especially in stand-your-ground states like Ohio.
"If you feel that your life or a life of your family members are threatened, you can take deadly force against somebody right there on the spot. … So, for instance, if someone kicks open [a] door in the middle of the night, and the homeowner believes that they're coming in can physically harm them, they're going to shoot at them if they have a gun nearby," Dolan said. "And in Southeast Ohio … we've seen that before."
Additionally, in Ohio, if a person's leg enters another person's home by kicking a door in, that can result in a burglary charge, on top of possibly trespassing charges, Dolan explained.
Homeowners might also face a lengthy process in the criminal justice system if they choose to defend themselves with a gun if someone kicks their door open, Dolan said.
"Our job would be: if the homeowner did fire a weapon if somebody had kicked open their door, we would conduct an investigation into that. Of course, we would seize the weapon that was used in it as evidence. We would take any kind of interviews and reports, medical exams, pictures, measurements, everything … and then we would turn it over to the Guernsey County Prosecutor's Office … [who] can rule it out as a justified homicide or they can move it up further and go to a grand jury."
The Fleetwood Police Department in Pennsylvania on June 8 warned that a "TikTok 'door knock' or 'door kick' challenge encourages kids and teens to record themselves doing just that; knocking on and/or kicking random doors, usually late at night."
"While 'ding dong ditch' has been a hallmark for decades of kids who were looking to have a little mischievous fun, today's youth have taken things to a more serious level by kicking at doors and ultimately causing damage," the department wrote. "Besides the financial consequences to homeowners who are often left with the expense of repairs, there is the potential for a child to be seriously hurt or even killed by someone who believes, especially in the middle of the night, that their residence is being broken into and ultimately determines there is an imminent threat to life and property."
The Flower Mound Police Department and The Oak Harbor Police Department in Washington also said they have seen the trend on TikTok.
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The Fort Worth Police Department in Texas issued a similar warning recently.
"This trend has been reported across the country, including right here in Texas," the Fort Worth PD said. "It is imperative that individuals partaking in this trend understand that even if no burglary or theft occur, this behavior is illegal and considered vandalism and can lead to criminal charges. More critically, it can be mistaken as an attempted break-in, potentially prompting dangerous or defensive responses from homeowners."
The department further urged parents "to speak with their children about the risks and consequences of participating in trends like this," adding that "what may seem like a prank can result in very real trouble and/or danger."
Meanwhile, another trend called "UrbanEx" has made headlines recently for putting participating social media users behind bars. The "challenge" encourages users to explore abandoned buildings, from old schools to churches to retail and entertainment establishments.
The Harris County Constables in Precinct One in Texas recently announced the arrests of three 18-year-old men, who are accused of trespassing in the Houston Astrodome, which has been closed since 2009.
The Constables office said security guards for the venue saw the three men enter the stadium around midnight and later spotted them running across a parking lot and jumping a fence. The three teens are charged with trespassing.
"Sneaking into closed old historic buildings is dangerous," Constable Precinct One Alan Rosen said in a June 10 statement. "You are taking a risk for yourself and first responders, and it is against the law."
A June 8 video showing the interior of the Astrodome posted by Urbex.tx had nearly 845,000 views on TikTok.
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Last year, a 23-year-old man named Guillermo Leflore, known as "Urbex Tarzan" on TikTok, was arrested after officials said he trespassed on private property while exploring steam tunnels. It wasn't his first time attempting a dangerous stunt for social media; he is accused of previously attempting to climb the Milwaukee Art Museum, as FOX 6 Milwaukee first reported.
Ari Lightman, professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, told Fox News Digital that social media trends resemble what used to be games of truth-or-dare "on steroids."
"You're reaching tens of thousands of people. You're not daring somebody face-to-face," Lightman said. "Why are they doing that? Is it just to get likes, and those likes might turn into followers, and those followers might turn into advertisers, and those advertisers might turn into profits for some people? Is it even real, or is it AI generated?"
Defenders of the UrbanEx trend say it exposes historically significant structures that have been left to rot; many social media users have been calling on local city leaders to revive abandoned schools, houses, churches and event spaces.
"Just the general lack of respect amongst children today, whether it's for people's property in the classroom or other people's feelings, it's a big problem. They're lacking empathy and respect because they're spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough understanding in real-life human emotion," Jordan said.
She advised parents to join a Facebook group called "Parenting in a Tech World" where the "latest trends are being shared there from parents whose children are experiencing it in real time." She also advised parents to talk to their kids candidly and calmly about what they are seeing online, and Google the trends that are appearing on the social media pages.
"Maybe your kid's playing Roblox and you don't think it's safe. Google dangers of Roblox. Show your child how other children have been harmed by adults they have been lured by on that platform so they realize you're not just being overprotective," she said.
"All you can do is have candid calm conversations with them, and not just talking to them or talking at them, but asking them what they've seen. What did they think? What do they think the dangers are of hanging around an old building and recording it? Maybe they say they don't know, and that can encourage a conversation right there."Original article source: Deadly social media trend threatens kids, homeowners defending themselves: 'children are going to get killed'