Imagine that you have a school laptop, those chromebooks that are distributed in class. Suddenly, you see other young people in Tiktok putting clips, pencils or aluminum foil in the USB port of your computer.
The goal: to cause sparks, smoke and even fire, all to get a few likes and comments on networks. This is how the Chromebook Challengethe latest viral fashion that is leaving teachers and parents with the hair.
The reason is that, without understanding the reason very well, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and other states have had to evacuate classrooms and even whole buildings because of laptops burning or releasing toxic smoke.
In Belleville, New Jersey, a 15 -year -old student ended up accused of fire after burning his Chromebook to record and upload it to Tiktok. In other centers, damage range from cast USB ports to chamuscaded tables and busted plugs.
While it is true that schools have already sent an informative letter to parents, warning of the fines or expulsions that could get home, it seems that students are ignoring.
Why do Chromebook Challenge hook so much?
It is one of the big questions, taking into account how absurd it is, apart from dangerous. It seems that it has triumphed because it is easy to do, it does not need technical knowledge and allows the kids to presume ‘rebels’ before their friends and followers.
It is enough with a metallic object and a mobile to record the result: smoke, sparks and sometimes the computer burned. The videos, under labels like #chromebookchallenge or #chromebookdurabilitytest, are shared in Tiktok, Instagram and other networks, adding thousands of visualizations in a matter of hours.
Some videos even carry messages like «anything before doing homework» or jokes about how easy it is to deceive teachers. But behind all this laugh, the risk is very real and the laptops can explode, the lithium batteries are unstable and the smoke they generate is toxic.
Tiktok becomes a nest of pyramid scams
Changing the subject, but continuing with Tiktok, the truth is that this app day and almost day is also news for some problem that another related to the videos that millions of people see every day.
Without going any further, the organization of consumers and users (OCU) has already given the alarm: the cases of pyramid scams have shot in 2025, with victims that lose from 300 to 20,000 euros. The scammers use false influencers, they supplant famous figures and sell ‘unique opportunities’ that only exist in their dreams.
He mode of operation Start with the request for an initial payment to access ‘Safe investments’ or ‘works from home’. Then, they force you to recruit friends to recover your money. It is a trap clearly and 90% end up losing, the OCU warns.
Platforms such as Creators Alliance, already dismantled, or only, their possible replacement, operate under this scheme, so very attentive to these names or these phrases so tempting and, logically, what better place to carry all this to carry out than Tiktok. The social network of short videos is perfect because they will reach millions of bored young people, many of them vulnerable.
«OCU transfers this concern to both the CNMC, and to the General Directorate of Consumer, requesting coordinated measures that include active surveillance, awareness campaigns aimed at young people, and clear sanctions to the platforms that do not act with due diligence,» they comment.
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Tags: Viral, computers, United States, Chromebook