By Gavin Boyle
Police warn parents about the uptick in the “Door Kicking” challenge where young children go out at night and kick in people’s front doors.
“While ‘ding dong ditch’ has been a hallmark for decades of kids who were looking to have a little mischievous fun, today’s youth have taken things to a more serious level by kicking in door and ultimately causing damage,” the Fleetwood Police Department in Pennsylvania said, per Fox News. “Besides the financial consequences to homeowners who are often left with the expense of repairs, there is the potential for a child to be seriously hurt or even killed by someone who believes, especially in the middle of the night, that their residence is being broken into and ultimately determines there is an imminent threat to life and property.”
Depending on the state they live in and the extent of their actions, the charges for children who are caught participating in the challenge include trespassing, destruction of property and even burglary. Meanwhile, residents who protect themselves, even to the extreme of discharging a firearm, would likely be in the right in this scenario.
“Some children may think this is a harmless prank, but the recipient of your harmless prank may not know that,” Lansdale Police Chief Mike Trail told NBC 10 Philadelphia. “These things can have disastrous results.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first time a dangerous and destructive trend has spread across social media. In 2021, the “Devious Lick” trend spread across TikTok which encouraged children to steal things from their school, ranging from a box of masks to clocks, microscopes and other more expensive items.
While TikTok claims it shuts down these trends as soon as it becomes aware of them, in practice, this does not seem to be the case. The Devious Lick trend, for example, was shared for multiple weeks with videos garnering millions of views before the platform blocked it.
Related: TikTok Bans ‘Devious Lick’ Trend on Platform of Students Stealing School Property
“At this point, devious licks has spread outside the platform. It’s all over Instagram, Facebook, you name it. I’m not surprised they did it, just surprised that they let it get to such a point before taking steps to shut it down,” said influencer Phillip Hamilton.
The Door Kicking challenge appears to be receiving the same treatment as it continues to spread across the platform – despite having been around since at least January of 2024.
Platforms like TikTok need to do a better job of censoring harmful and illegal content, rather than profiting off of it and placing its younger users in severe harm.
Read Next: ‘Shot or Killed’: Police Warn Teens Against TikTok Door Knock Challenge
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