The impact of TikTok application on the spread of intellectual extremism and the role of school in raising awareness about it, from the perspective of middle and high school students in Riyadh city

Abstract

In response to the great efforts made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Ministry of Education in confronting extremist thought and spreading the concepts of moderation and intellectual security, this study reveals the impact of TikTok App on this from students’ point of view of and knowing the role of school in raising awareness about it. The descriptive approach was followed, by surveying the opinions of intermediate and secondary students. The study sample amounted to (529) students, who were randomly selected. The study concluded that nearly half of the sample size had downloaded the application during the Corona pandemic, and that they cannot do without it, as well as most of the respondents are receivers of the content and not its makers. The results also indicate a high religious and patriotic sense among the study sample, and their ability to distinguish offensive content. The students agreed that the content includes a lot of wrong religious, moral, and social practices, and that teachers' have awareness of the risks of social networks. The current study recommends crowding out the presented content with professional content that refutes destructive ideas and strengthening the role of educational meetings to confront intellectual extremism.