Bay Area schools warn parents of viral TikTok trend damaging school-issued Chromebooks
At least two school districts in the San Francisco Bay Area have issuing warnings to parents about a viral social media trend in which students are damaging their school-issued Chromebook computers.
The trend, known as the "Chromebook Challenge" on TikTok, involves teens jamming small objects, such as paper clips and pencils, into the USB ports of the laptops.
In some cases, the laptops short-circuit, causing sparks and even fires.
Officials with the Petaluma City Schools in the North Bay issued a statement Friday saying they have seen an increased number of incidents of intentional damage to the Chromebooks.
"This is extremely unsafe and poses a serious risk to student safety, school property, and classroom learning," district officials said. "This behavior must stop immediately. Students aware of others engaging in this behavior should report it to a trusted adult or administrator immediately."
In the East Bay, officials at the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District issued a similar warning, saying that at least one school reported damage to an electrical outlet in a classroom.
"We take this issue very seriously as it can not only result in the destruction of valuable school property, but more importantly, poses significant personal safety risks including the potential for electric shock, burns, or other injuries," said a statement sent to parents on Thursday.
Districts across the country have issued similar warnings about the challenge, including districts in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Both districts warned parents and guardians of students who intentionally damage their devices would be held financially responsible for repair or replacement costs. Parents and guardians are also being urged to talk to their children about the potential negative effects of social media.
"While platforms like TikTok can be creative and fun, they can also promote harmful or misleading trends that encourage risky or damaging behavior. Your involvement, asking questions, staying engaged, and setting boundaries play a crucial role in helping students navigate these spaces safely and responsibly," said Petaluma school officials.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Khaby Lame: World's biggest TikTok star leaves US after being detained by ICE
Khaby Lame, the world's most popular TikTok personality, has left the US after being detained by federal agents. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson said the Senegalese-Italian influencer - who has 162.2m followers on TikTok - was detained on Friday at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas after he "overstayed the terms of his visa". The 25-year-old had arrived in the US on 30 April, the ICE spokesperson added, and was allowed to leave the country without a deportation order by a voluntary departure. Those with a deportation order on their records can be prevented from being allowed back into the US for up to a decade. While in the US, Lame - whose legal name is Seringe Khabane Lame - attended the Met Gala and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala in New York City. He became famous online during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he would react to complicated life hack videos without saying a word. With millions of followers, he signed a multi-year partnership with designer brand Hugo Boss in 2022, and was appointed as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in January this year. Read more: He has not publicly commented on his detention, and has continued posting on TikTok since. Sky News has approached his representatives for comment.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Macklemore's home invaded with kids inside; nanny bear-sprayed: report
***Video above: What happens when you call 911*** SEATTLE (WJW) — The Seattle Police Department is investigating after two suspects reportedly broke into rapper Macklemore's home while a nanny and his three children were inside. According to a police report obtained by FOX 8 News, the home invasion happened before 1 a.m. on Saturday at the residence of a 'high profile individual' in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. ICE detains the most followed person on TikTok, Khaby Lame Officers responded to the scene after a woman, later identified as a nanny, said two men broke into the house. The woman told dispatchers that she escaped to call 911, but three children were still inside the home. When they arrived, police officials learned that the nanny had been sitting on the main floor after putting the kids to bed upstairs, when she noticed two men — wearing all black, with masks and gloves — coming in through a patio door. According to the police report, one of the suspects then sprayed the nanny in the face with bear spray, while the other demanded, 'where are the jewels?' The nanny led them to the master bedroom, where the suspects, 'went through drawers, cabinets and raided the closet full of clothing, jewelry and shoes,' the police report said. She told police the suspect forced her to the ground and took her phone. The nanny started screaming and was pinned to the wall, but according to the report, she broke free after biting one of the suspect's hands. The woman then ran to a neighbor's home to call police. According to Seattle police, officers searched the home but the suspects had already fled the scene. The children, who were still inside, were found safe. Other family members took custody of them. Shoot-out at Akron store after sleeping clerk awoken by robbers: Police 'There were obvious signs of disarray in the portions of the house,' the police report reads, 'and bear spray was still present in the air through portions of the house.' While searching the area, investigators found a can of bear spray. Investigators also found several bushes flattened near the property's fence. As reported by People and The Seattle Times, the address listed in the police report matches voting records for 41-year-old Ben Haggerty, better known as the 'Thrift Shop' rapper Macklemore. A spokesperson for the rapper did not respond to People's request, the outlet reported. According to USA Today, Haggerty has three children with his wife Tricia Davis. The break-in remains under investigation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Social media algorithms boost L.A. protest misinformation in ‘combustible' environment
Offline, in real-world Los Angeles, most Angelenos are having a perfectly normal day. But online, the fires and riots are still raging. The powerful algorithms that fuel social media platforms are feeding users days-old and sometimes completely fake content about the recent unrest in L.A., contributing to a sense of nonstop crisis that doesn't exist beyond a small part of the sprawling city. Unvetted accounts on platforms like X and TikTok, in an apparent bid for clicks, clout and chaos, have preyed on the fears of liberals and conservatives about where last weekend's clashes will lead. An AI-generated fake video on TikTok purported to show a National Guardsman going by the name Bob livestreaming his preparation for 'today's gassing' of protesters. The video has been viewed more than 960,000 times as of Tuesday afternoon. Many in the comments section called the video a fake, but others appeared to believe it was real. (The video, which was debunked by BBC News, appears to have since been taken down.) 'What's happening on social media is similar to the chaos of the information environment around the 2020 George Floyd protests,' said Renée DiResta, an associate research professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and an expert on how conspiracy theories spread online. 'People are trying to discern between real current footage and recycled sensational old footage repurposed for political or financial ends.' In 2025, though, AI-generated images are more abundant, and users have splintered onto different online platforms 'where different stories are being told,' DiResta told CNN. On X, where right-wing views tend to flourish, influencers are denouncing the anti-ICE protesters as agitators and terrorists, while on the more left-wing Bluesky, prominent users are condemning President Trump's deployment of the National Guard. Hyperpartisan and hyperactive accounts on X have been wildly overstating the actual volume of unrest in Southern California, furthering the online confusion about the offline situation. One viral post on X falsely claimed on Sunday that there were 'breaking' news reports that Mexico was considering 'military intervention' in Los Angeles. More than 2 million people have viewed the post as of Tuesday afternoon. Dozens of posts on X have spread conspiracy theories claiming the protesters were government-backed or funded by various sources, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank. Many of those posts have over a million views, and only a handful of them have been fact-checked with X's community notes features. CNN has requested comment from X and TikTok. Recognizing how viral posts can distort public opinion and potentially exacerbate violence, California Governor Gavin Newsom's office on Sunday night pleaded with the public to 'check your sources before sharing info!' in a post on X. The governor's office also directly debunked some of the info. As some protests in L.A. turned ugly on Sunday evening, Senator Ted Cruz shared a shocking video clip of L.A. Police Department cars on fire and wrote, 'this… is… not… peaceful.' The Texas senator's X post implied the video clip was brand-new, but it was actually from 2020, when the racial justice protests tipped into civil unrest. Cruz was reacting to actor James Woods, one of the prominent conservative X users who promoted the five-year-old fire video. Newsom responded to Woods: 'This video is from 2020.' Adding to the confusion, vandals did damage several police cars and set several self-driving cars on fire Sunday evening. But the viral clip reposted by Woods was old. Federal government accounts have been among the misleading sources on social media. A Defense Department 'rapid response' account on X claimed Monday morning that 'Los Angeles is burning, and local leaders are refusing to respond.' But there were no reports of fires burning in L.A. at the time of the Defense Department's claim. Russian and Chinese state media have also amplified images of the unrest, whether real or fake. Chinese state media outlets have 'rapidly seized on the deployment of Marines in the streets of Los Angeles,' the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy, a think tank, said in an analysis shared with CNN. 'In keeping with their coverage of 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, PRC (People's Republic of China) propaganda outlets have used protests in the United States to dent America's image abroad and to suggest that the US government's response to protests at home bears little resemblance to their support for protests overseas,' Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, told CNN. Russian state-controlled outlet Sputnik, meanwhile, circulated a photo, also shared by the actor Woods, purporting to show 'pallets of bricks' at a protest site. But that photo is actually from a construction site in New Jersey, according to X's 'community notes' feature. Russian state media outlets have also echoed false or misleading claims from pro-Trump influencers about left-wing groups and figures funding the protests, according to Schafer. Moscow 'seems less interested in scoring propaganda points and more interested in throwing fuel into a combustible domestic information environment,' he said.
