TikTok trend could put girls at risk. Schools in Berlin received a letter
A senator for education in Berlin warned several hundred schools about the return of a dangerous trend on TikTok encouraging the molestation of girls on a specific day, April 24.
German media report on the countermeasure taken by the senator for education in Berlin, Katharina Guenther-Wuensch. The politician sent a letter to eight hundred schools in which she warned against a disturbing online trend called “National Rape Day.”
In the letter, she warned of possible sexual harassment of young women and girls on Wednesday, April 24. According to false content spread online that day, such acts would go unpunished.
“National Rape Day.” The trend returned after three years
The video encouraging the molestation of young women and girls on a specific day was first posted on TikTok in 2021. Although the video was removed from the site, the issue did not go away. “Currently, this false information is again being picked up more and more willingly by TikTok users and is being spread, among others, through chats in schools,” wrote Katharina Guenther-Wuensch.
Since April 9, Google Trends statistics have shown an increase in search interest for this term. Users in Germany were looking for answers to the questions “is april 24th national r@pe day” and “National Rape Day”.
“It's basically an annual and disgusting trend that schools and parents are often unaware of,” school principal and Lower Saxony's first digital ambassador, Silke Muelle, told Spiegel.
It is unclear what started the spread of this information on the popular Chinese app. Spiegel journalists assumed that someone decided to ridicule the idea of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It is an annual campaign initiated by the American non-profit organization National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
According to the dpa agency, the students themselves also drew attention to the recording in several schools. The senator's letter was an element of prevention.
