A disturbing TikTok trend dubbed "National Rape Day" has gone viral online as users warn women and girls to “stay indoors” today.
The deeply concerning TikToks are linked to April 24 and have left many terrified to leave their homes, with some videos urging people to "carry what you need to carry" to defend themselves.
A video promoting the 'day' was reportedly first made by a group of men, encouraging others to commit acts of sexual assault on this day, saying it was legal to do so.
The social media platform disputes the existence of the original video however, videos with the hashtag #April24 are thought to have a total of 38 million views with thousands of videos being made in response to the original TikTok.
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The response videos feature a series of safety warnings, telling women not to leave the house on April 24 or to only travel in groups.
Other videos contain threats against anyone who commits acts of sexual assault on this day.
The sick trend first originated in America with the earliest mention of it on social media, according to America’s Media Matters, a tweet from April 11, 2021: “Please if you are in the UK, be safe, the boys have made a ‘national rape day’ and that’s tomorrow.”
From there, the concept took hold on TikTok with the date subsequently changed to April 24.
Worryingly, the trend has gathered momentum across the UK this year with a number of professionals hearing concerns from young girls and women, many of whom are afraid to attend school or college today.
The North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership said: "We have been made aware of concerning Tik-Toks currently circulating linked to 24th April which has been unofficially named as ‘National Rape Day’ and promotes sexual assault on females.
"The trend originated from America and has now become more widely promoted via Tik-Tok and other social media platforms such as Twitter. It seems to be gathering momentum.
"If you have concerns about a child or young person, please discuss those concerns with that person and their family or refer them to the Children and Families Service."
Users worldwide, including in Australia, have also come across the disturbing trend, although a spokesperson for TikTok Australia told news.com.au the platform has “not found any evidence of the videos [of men] that users are reacting to”.
It added: "Keeping our community safe is our top priority and we actively remove content that violates our community guidelines.
"Our safety team remains vigilant and we will remove content that violates our policies."
The response videos feature a series of safety warnings, telling women not to leave the house on April 24
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Disinformation journalist Laura Garcia told Vice when the trend first emerged: “These types of reaction videos lack the crucial context and they end up being very misleading, despite containing kernels of truth.”
This April marks the official 22nd anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month which is a campaign that aims to increase awareness about the causes and risk factors for sexual assault.
Users who see any online content promoting sexual violence are urged to report it by flagging the video to the relevant social media platform or the police.
