Education Minister Asks Malta’s Anti-Bullying Services To Intervene Over Viral TikTok Video
Education Minister Owen Bonnici has asked the director general responsible for national anti-bullying services to intervene over a TikTok video showing a young man slapping another student from behind.
In the video, a young man can be seen sneaking up behind a student, shouting something and slapping him in the head. He has said on social media that the two are actually friends and that the person he slapped had actually given him permission to post the video.
“First of all, why on earth are you interfering? Second of all, we’re friends and he gave me permission to upload the video,” the student said when someone posted the video to a popular Facebook group. “Everyone wants to interfere.”
However, it was met with a flood of criticism, with some people even asking the police to intervene, and the video was eventually removed from TikTok. Now the state’s anti-bullying services are set to look into it.
“Bullying is a very ugly phenomenon,” Bonnici told Lovin Malta.
“When dealing with bullying one needs to see two sides of the coin, firstly why would the person doing the bullying act the way he/she does (what are the root causes?) and secondly helping the person being bullied build confidence in him/herself after this traumatic experience.”
“We need to offer services to both because both persons (the bullier and the bullied) need assistance and expert help to go out of this.”
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