Cyberbullying TikTok accounts plague Oldham’s Co-op Academy

It is one of a number of schools in the borough with such pages – though the accounts dedicated to the Failsworth academy appeared to be the most active.

The TikTok accounts, known as ‘bait out pages’, are ostensibly to ‘expose’ secrets and rumours about other students attending the schools, while the person posting the accusations remains anonymous.

The Oldham Times saw a mixture of personally targeted sexual harassment, homophobic bullying, body shaming, and other abuse – with nearly 10 accounts dedicated to Co-op Academy Failsworth along and more than 30 covering the wider North Manchester region.

Commenters on the accounts included people who appeared wearing the Brierley Avenue school’s uniforms on their own profiles.

Many of the accounts were removed after The Oldham Times contacted TikTok about the accounts.

Three of the accounts, which have since been removed from TikTok. Some information has been blurred. The accounts racked up thousands of views.

Some targets of the abuse appeared to comment on the pages to refute allegations, with other commenters appearing to tag friends.

One account The Oldham Times found, which appeared to be Manchester-wide rather than targeted at an individual school, even appeared to show inappropriate images of students.

Accounts encourage followers to “send in rumours,” with many imploring viewers not to report videos to TikTok – to avoid the account becoming banned.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in the year ending March 2020, an estimated one in five children aged 10 to 15 years old in England and Wales have experienced online bullying.

A spokesperson for Co-op Academies Trust said: “Our academy pastoral teams always work with students, parents and carers to report any accounts we are made aware of with inappropriate content.

“If we find any involvement from students in our academies we always take all appropriate actions, however, it is frustrating that schools can only do so much when the incidents are on social media.

"Most of these accounts are anonymous, used outside of school hours and we frequently find are commented on by people with nothing to do with our academies.

“Platforms like TikTok allow cyberbullying techniques to adapt at an alarming rate, so we support any national agenda promoting the need for social media companies to do more to stop harmful trends like this.”

Speaking to The Oldham Times, an NSPCC spokesperson said: “Anonymous accounts of this type, which appear to promote and share rumours, can have a harmful effect on the children who find themselves mentioned in the messages.

“Though cyberbullying takes place virtually, it can cause the same kinds of anxieties and harm as physical bullying in the playground or classroom, but with a far bigger audience.

“The Government needs to strengthen the Online Safety Bill to make sure it tackles abuse and bullying, and ensures children get the same protections from anonymous abuse as adults."

They added: “In terms of practical advice, parents and carers should have regular conversations with their children about the social media, apps or games they use.

“Make sure they understand how to report any inappropriate comments or content, and how to block any accounts they find upsetting.

“Children can also contact Childline on 0800 1111 or visit www.childline.org.uk and parents with concerns about a child’s wellbeing can phone the NSPCC helpline on 0808 8005000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.”

A spokesperson at TikTok said: “We are crystal clear that hateful behaviour, bullying and harassment have no place on TikTok, and we have removed the accounts that violate our Community Guidelines.

“We have also put in place additional measures and guidance to proactively detect and remove schools-related accounts and content that violate our guidelines.

“Anyone can report inappropriate content in-app, and we also partner with the Professional Online Safety Helpline to provide teachers with an additional way to report content.”

A spokesperson for the UK government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “We will not allow this malicious online activity to continue threatening children. 

“Our world-leading Online Safety Bill will force social media companies and other sites used by children to do more to tackle cyber bullying or face huge fines, and will also make it easier for kids and parents to report harmful activity.”