Horry County Schools addresses fiery TikTok trend
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — A TikTok challenge centered on students damaging their school-issued computers has made its way to Horry County Schools.
The 'Chromebook Challenge' only began a few weeks ago, but has likely taken up your kids' TikTok feed.
Kids film themselves, or others, sticking objects like paper clips or pencils into their Chromebook's USB port. It's done on purpose to create a short and cause smoke inside the classroom.
Horry County Schools said it's aware of the challenge and have already had a few situations inside middle schools.
'We have had a couple of incidents of that a couple of weeks ago,' Lisa Bourcier, HCS spokesperson, said. 'Nothing recently and not a lot. But we do consider it vandalism and the instances that we have, we were fortunate not to have any fire or evacuations from those.'
HCS said participating in the trend can cause serious consequences for both the student and parent, including up to three days of out of school suspension and law enforcement involvement for vandalism and fees.
'We are holding parents responsible; financially responsible for repairs of the computers or reimbursement of the computers if it's a complete loss, and that can be upwards of almost $700 per device,' Bourcier said.
Other school districts have had to evacuate school buildings after a Chromebook burst into flames, causing major disruptions.
Bourcier said many principals have already sent out emails to parents about this.
Phil Jackson said his kids would face major consequences if they participated and would make his kids pay the fees.
'Look, to damage school property and for something like this and inserting objects into a Chromebook, it's senseless,' Jackson said. 'So, if there's any kids out there listening, stop doing it.'
News13 spoke to HCS superintendent Clifford Jones after a community event Wednesday who said destruction of property is not allowed. The district encourages parents to talk to their kids about the consequences this trend will bring.
'Yeah, it's a trend, but it's not a good trend, it's not something that you want to be doing,' Jackson said.
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Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. You can also read more of her work here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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