A Senedd member who represents Monmouth has spoken out about a social media trend which has been worrying school teachers and parents.

Member for South Wales East, Laura Anne Jones, took to the Senedd floor during a plenary session to raise the issue of pupils recording teachers and creating ’defamatory and offensive’ for the social media platform TikTok.During the session which took place Tuesday, November 16, Ms Jones said: "I’d like to call for a statement by the minister for education given the recent news and worrying news that teachers are being recorded during lessons and that the footage is being uploaded to the social media platform TikTok. It is a situation that is getting out of hand, and I’m aware of many schools now having written to parents to increase awareness of what is going on."She added: "It is becoming increasingly apparent that governments need to take action now, working with social media organisations, to crack down on offensive videos aimed at teachers. Teachers across Wales have been targeted with defamatory and offensive videos posted by these pupils on TikTok. This is causing significant concern among teachers and school staff. Teachers do a wonderful job educating our children. We are all to quick to praise the job that they do. Their role in schools needs to be a safe space for them, as well as the pupils."She then asked the minister on how the Welsh government is looking to help education providers combat this, and to clarify what guidance will be issued to teachers to try and help them in this regard.Lesley Griffiths said in response: "It’s completely unacceptable that teachers are facing such behaviour. There are behaviours such as creating hoax accounts, for instance, that can cause great harm, and they have a devastating impact on individuals. I know that the minister has liaised with the UK Council for Internet Safety to ensure that we have a co-ordinated approach across the UK on this matter, and the UK CIS has contacted TikTok regarding this issue."She added that the Welsh government has also updated their guidance on viral challenges to show the support available to teachers in order to be able to protect their well-being. She also made it clear that it’s absolutely critical that social media platforms recognise their responsibility and their duty of care to their users.