At the Professionals Online Safety Helpline (POSH), we have been helping support professionals across the UK against harmful accounts and videos posted online, which have been the most common cases reported to the helpline. We have seen instances of students misusing platforms, including TikTok, to create accounts, which may impersonate or reference the school, damaging their reputation, and often bully peers as well as school staff. We want to share important information here about how schools and our helpline can work with TikTok to tackle this issue.
TikTok takes this issue extremely seriously, and our strong relationship with TikTok allows us to report accounts to them directly. These will then be reviewed and removed by TikTok’s Trust and Safety teams. Our helpline, together with TikTok, has played an important role in upholding community standards and supporting victims of online harm.
Escalating to TikTok
The Professionals Online Safety Helpline is able to report accounts to TikTok which may violate its Community Guidelines on a school or professional's behalf. Below is a list of possible violations to help schools determine what they can report to us. Please note, it is not an exhaustive list and for more details, consult the full guidelines on TikTok’s website.
Click on the buttons below for more information on the most common violations we see.
TikTok makes clear in its Community Guidelines that it does not tolerate members of its community being bullied or harassed. Here are just some things that meet the threshold for bullying and harassment. You can find more information and examples here.
- Doxxing (publishing or threatening to publish personal information about someone online with malicious intent)
- Sexual harassment
- Insulting someone’s physical attributes
- Wishing serious harm on someone
TikTok does not allow hate speech, hateful behaviour, or promotion of hateful ideologies. These are some examples, but you can find more information here.
- Supporting or spreading hateful ideologies
- Useful hateful slurs
- Encouraging violence, segregation, discrimination, or other harm towards people based on protected attributes
TikTok does not allow threats, glorification of violence, or promoting crimes that could harm people, animals, or property. For example, the following is not allowed:
- Threatening or expressing a desire to physically harm people
- Promoting or glorifying violence, such as calling for violent attacks or praising acts of violence
- Promoting theft or the destruction of property
- Sharing instructions on how to commit crimes that may harm people, animals, or property
TikTok does not allow content that shows or promotes suicide or self-harm, disordered eating or dangerous activities that involve visible or imminent significant physical harm). For example, the following would be violations:
- Showing, promoting, or giving instructions for suicide or self-harm
- Sharing plans for suicide or self-harm
- Showing, describing, promoting, or glorifying disordered eating (e.g. extremely low-calorie diets)
- Showing or promoting dangerous activity that involves visible or imminent significant physical harm, like eating or drinking unsafe items
We have seen some other violations of TikTok’s guidelines, although these are less common. These include:
What We Can’t Assist With
There are some accounts which we can report but may not necessarily be in breach of TikTok’s community guidelines:
TikTok has informed us that certain reports need to be made directly via their reporting routes for them to be seen by their specialist team. Whilst we are still reporting content when we can, we can no longer report accounts just for using the school logo. If you have a trademarked logo, you can report this to TikTok here:
https://www.tiktok.com/legal/report/Trademark
Select ‘I’d like to report a possible trademark infringement in user-generated content’ if the logo is being used on a TikTok account. You can then follow the instructions.
We cannot make reports just because an account is using the schools name or sharing photos of the school (i.e. from the school website).
Impersonation generally falls outside the reporting scope we have with TikTok. We are not in a position to be able to prove that an account is inauthentic, and reports of this nature need to be made directly to be seen by their specialist team. In the absence of additional account content that clearly demonstrates bullying or another violation, our ability to report this is limited. Instead, a professional (or young person), can use the impersonation form outlined below:
Visit the page: Report a problem | TikTok.
- Under Topic, select ' 'Report a potential violation'
- Under Category, select ' Account violation';
- Under Reason for reporting select 'Impersonation'.
Impersonation accounts can also be reported via the TikTok app / via TikTok on web browser. Details on this process can be found here: https://support.tiktok.com/en/safety-hc/report-a-problem/report-an-impersonation-account"
In the event that content online involves any indecent images (i.e. nude or sexual) of anyone under the age 18 (including images that have been created by AI), it will be illegal for us to view this. In that instance, the content should instead be reported to the Internet Watch Foundation here. You can find further guidance for handling incidents of the sharing of nudes and semi-nudes on our website here.
Privacy concerns generally fall outside the scope of our reporting relationships with platforms. They can instead be reported directly to the platform via dedicated reporting processes. You can report a privacy violation here. Parents or guardians can also report privacy violations on behalf of their child. If there are any safeguarding concerns about content that has been shared, feel free to get in touch with us, and we will do our best to advise or support you further.
We cannot be the arbiters of truth regarding allegations made against a school or teachers, nor will we attempt to report students for expressing their opinions and, sometimes, criticisms. We can report content when it becomes abusive, threatening or is shared with the aim to harass. While we recognise that this has the potential to be damaging at times, it is essential to consider the difference between students voicing their concerns freely (even in a way that can be uncomfortable to read) and bullying or harassment.
When it comes to defamatory claims or allegations made about professionals, these concerns fall outside the scope of our reporting relationships with platforms. This is because they sit outside clear violations of guidelines and we are not able to act as arbiters in legal matters. You can report the content directly to TikTok as defamation. You can read more about reporting this here.
While this sort of content can often be reported, offensive and inappropriate material can be seen as subjective to the user. Unless we can see a clear violation of TikTok’s community guidelines (e.g. that the content is bullying in nature), we will not escalate the case to TikTok.
Re-sharing or using an image that has already been made publicly available (for example, on social media or a school website) is generally not considered a breach of the guidelines, even if it is shared without the individual's consent. However, it may be reportable if the image is shared in a way that clearly contributes to, or forms part of, bullying or harassment.
What Else Can Schools Do?
Apart from reporting these accounts to us, there are other ways schools can help to prevent and mitigate the situation.
Firstly, it is always important to have conversations regarding bullying and all the different formats this can take. From looking at these accounts, not all of them are trying to be malicious, however, these students may not grasp the ramifications of the content they are posting and the real-life problems they may be causing. This is especially true of accounts mentioning teachers.
It can be seen as easy for students to dehumanise their teachers and disconnect from the fact that what they are doing is bullying as a result. Cyberbullying has many elements that make it easier than conventional bullying, creating a disconnection from empathy and consequences that face-to-face bullying does not share. Emphasising and giving different examples of what constitutes bullying should be included in this education. Young people need to know that something that seems like a joke or an insignificant comment to them may have a severe impact on the victim’s mental well-being.
Schools can liaise with parents and carers regarding the appropriate use of technology. Parents and carers may be unaware that their child has to be 13 to be on TikTok (as well as most social media platforms) and there are a myriad of parental controls they can employ if and when their children get these apps. Provide them with tools and resources so that they can help in combatting and supporting these issues.
You can visit the TikTok Guardian’s Guide for an overview of TikTok and the many tools and controls available to keep the community safe. The guide also provides general information on common internet safety concerns.
Additional Points
Identifying Account Owners
We often get asked if we can identify the creators of these accounts. The answer is no, as TikTok has a strict Privacy Policy it adheres to. However, schools can conduct their own investigations by linking accounts to certain peer groups (e.g., by seeing who interacts with the account). While you are unlikely to be able to confirm who the accounts belong to, you should at the very least have an idea of where to target some interventions.
Reporting Criticisms about Schools
As mentioned, we cannot report accounts just for criticising the school. But a school can attempt to ensure that their pupils (or parents) are less likely to take to social media to air their grievances. Create appropriate outlets and support for them to discuss racism, sexism, mental health, or any other concerns they may have regarding the school.
These are common complaints reported to us that may be valid genuine concerns about the school. Make sure they feel heard and taken seriously. Take a look at the options available to you which can aid in facilitating such conversations with the school community, for example, our Whisper tool allows schools to provide an anonymous reporting route.
Reporting Images
As touched on earlier, we cannot report images or videos which have already been shared publicly. We often get reports from concerned teachers that videos that have been made and shared on the school website are being edited and shared online by pupils.
While this is not usually done to be nasty, if the idea of something being edited and shared is not something that you are comfortable with, consider this when you post something onto a school website or social media.
Unfortunately, we can all lose control over something once it is posted publicly, so keep this in mind and encourage staff to check their social media privacy settings for further support.
Supporting Staff
Ensuring the mental health support of all staff and students is prioritised and looked after is essential. Help equip students and staff with tools to deal with bullying and the sometimes difficult task of navigating an online world.
Do they know how to report and block? Where to reach out if they need to talk? Dedicate time to building up the digital resilience of the whole school community. You can find more information about TikTok’s safety and privacy controls here.
Remind staff that this is a minority of students acting in this manner, and it does not reflect their teaching abilities or take away from the many students, parents, and colleagues who do have respect for them. Take some comfort in considering that this sort of behaviour is nothing new; it’s just taken form in a new way, with a new medium.
Before the days of social media, it would have been the case of passing notes, whispering behind people’s backs, and graffitiing abuse on desks. It can be easy to feel like things are going downhill, but this is not the case and support is always available.
Further Reading and Support:
Sign Up for Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 Conference
20th July 2026
Government Announces Default Social Media Curfews: SWGfL Statement
17th July 2026
Online Safety Policy Templates Updated in Response to Keeping Children Safe in Education
15th July 2026
NEN - The Education Network Launches AI Webinar Series for Education Professionals
13th July 2026