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It’s Never a Joke Campaign

In the fall of 2024, a 16-year-old student in Arizona posted a photo to Instagram of herself getting ready for school. She appears happy and confident, excited to start the day with her friends.

Hours later, her high school activates a secure status. Law enforcement has notified the school that they are investigating a social media threat that identified specific classmates. Students stay in their classrooms for hours while police investigate.

They’re anxious because they don’t know if this threat is real or not. They start texting their parents or sending messages to other students. They want to know what is happening and if they should protect themselves.

The police department eventually declares the threat as non-credible and the campus goes back to normal. The very next day, the female student is arrested and charged with federal crimes. She faces a five-year prison sentence. She created an account just to create the fictitious threat against her school.

She said it was a joke.

Two 14-year-old freshmen faced criminal charges of disorderly conduct in Ohio after they created a homecoming poster that said, “I hate everyone, you hate everyone. Let’s shoot up the school at homecoming.” They held fake guns and posted the picture to Instagram.

They said it was a prank.

Twenty students in Charlotte, NC were suspended after they ‘liked’ a post that said their school was going to fall victim to a school shooter one day.

They didn’t know that clicking that ‘like’ button would cause action by law enforcement.

Investigating social media-based threats – particularly anonymous ones – is a multidisciplinary effort that involves school officials, law enforcement teams, psychologists, and other agencies. It goes way beyond a joke or a prank.

It’s Never a Joke is a campaign designed to help students, families, and schools put an end to social media threats.

The mental health of our youth is often the reason why a student would create or share a violent threat on social media. But there is help if we advocate and work together to help children understand they have options.

We care. We are listening. We want to help.

We encourage you to watch and share our It’s Never a Joke PSA video. We invite you to create positive dialogue in your home, schools, and community so we can advocate for change. We truly believe this epidemic of social media threats can be minimized through education, mental health resources, and understanding the consequences of creating and reposting a threat.

Information on this page will be updated. Please check back soon and reach out if you’d like to partner with us to ensure our students are heard and understand that It’s Never a Joke. Stop social media threats now.