Commenting on reports of posts on TikTok that are abusive to teachers, Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said:

"TikTok and other social media companies must step up and take far greater responsibility for the content hosted on their platforms. The racist and homophobic abuse against school staff in some TikTok videos is entirely unacceptable, yet there appears a worrying lack of urgency and priority given to removing inappropriate and distressing posts. If they are unwilling to adequately police content themselves, then we would encourage government to take steps to intervene on behalf of the victims of abusive content. No company should be allowed to profit from the misery of others."

Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, added: "Tik-Tok is unfortunately just the tip of the iceberg; social media platforms have been used to smear individual teachers and schools for many years. This causes huge distress and upset and can lead those affected to consider leaving the profession. Social media companies and the government need to get a grip on this as the damage to individuals can be huge."