Members of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) administration criticized Libs of TikTok and saw the account correct a viral post after the popular X page shared a middle school fight video the DeSantis team said was addressed months ago.
Fights breaking out in schools have become very popular in the conservative X space with users such as Libs of TikTok appearing to share them in an effort to call for greater action, but the DeSantis team said a specific video highlighting an incident at Sebastian Middle School was misleading because the team noted the offender responsible was disciplined months ago.
In the viral footage, a student carrying what seems to be an instrument is knocked to the ground and is beaten as onlookers bark.
“BREAKING: A kid was brutally attacked in Sebastian Middle School in FL. She had her heat beat against the floor while other students stood around barking bizarrely,” Libs of TikTok posted Sunday.
“The school’s response was telling the 2 students they couldn’t talk to each other. They reportedly failed to inform the teachers and have been trying to shove this under the rug,” according to the account.
Garnering over 3.7 million views, comments on the video bashed the attack as “a black-on-white hate crime” and a sign that “public schools have basically adopted a ‘let the inmates run the asylum‘ policy.”
Other commenters were quick to demand that Sebastian Middle School address the attack, but a member of the DeSantis administration said Monday the school already had done so.
“Another lie about Florida from LoTT,” DeSantis press secretary Jeremy Redfern wrote on X regarding the video.
“This incident happened months ago. The offender was disciplined and subsequently removed from the school. A lesson could’ve been learned when @GovRonDeSantis called out the previous lie, but I guess clicks are more important than truth,” Redfern said.
Christina Pushaw said Libs of TikTok’s coverage was “wrong” and called on X’s community notes to step in.
“For everyone who was tagging state officials in this yesterday … you cannot just believe everything you read on the internet,” Pushaw posted. “The caption is wrong and a Community note is @NoteNeeded.”
After the criticism from DeSantis’s team, Libs of TikTok reviewed the post and issued a correction Tuesday.
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“UPDATE: The FL State Board of Education has been able to confirm that the student received 45 days suspension. The mom reached out to me desperate to raise awareness of this situation. The fight happened mid Feb and the story is very much still ongoing because she’s now suing the district. She tells me her daughter has been bullied for months,” Libs of TikTok posted.
“I reviewed the plan the school gave her in response to this incident and It didn’t mention anything about a suspension,” according to the account. “I asked if the student was suspended and she said she doesn’t know because the school refused to tell her. Schools won’t typically share personal information on students because they’re minors.”