Iowa parents and students are being warned about a disturbing social media trend that features sinister versions of a beloved children’s book character.
Estherville Lincoln Central Superintendent Andy Armstead says the school resource officer first told him about the videos several days ago.
“Our SRO informed me that there was a viral TikTok going around,” Armstead says, “and it’s not just a singular one, but multiple where people, no idea who, are creating AI-generated Cat in the Hat videos, and some of them are threatening schools.”
Armstead says school officials always take such threats seriously, and he urges anyone who sees one of the videos to report them.
“If it is that type of a video or that type of image or whatever it is, it’s better to report it than to spread it,” Armstead says. “So rather than pushing the forward button on it or share button, it’s better to send that along to the police or the sheriff so that people are aware of it so we make sure that everybody’s safe.”
He says such videos can go viral in a hurry.
“Things can become viral so fast now,” Armstead says. “It doesn’t take anything. Something gets posted and then within a minute it can have hundreds of thousands or a million views and shares and it can be everywhere.”
Some of the video footage appears to be A-I-generated, while other parts include real people wearing costumes.
There are no reports of any Iowa schools being threatened, but schools in other states have been named.
(Ed Funston, KILR, Estherville)