A teenager has been praised for how she handled a man persistently intruding on her personal space.

The 18-year-old - who uses the handle @maassassin_ on TikTok - was in the middle of a live stream when she was approached by the man who can be heard off-camera attempting to engage in conversation with her despite her obvious hesitancy.

Following the stream, the content creator posted two videos of the alarming incident on the platform, and people are seriously creeped out by the unseen male stranger.

In the first video, which currently has 12 million views, the man can be heard interrupting @maassassin_ as she talks to her followers.

The young woman explains as part of the video text that he had pointed towards the chair and thought he was asking if he could take it. However, it then becomes clear that he actually had other intentions - he wanted to sit with her.

"Oh, I didn't mean you could sit there," the stunned TikToker tells the intruder, who responds: "I thought you said I could take this."

He then proceeds to pester the teen despite no willingness on her part to engage in conversation with him.

The man, who can be heard slurring his words, asks her how she is doing and for her name, to which she responds with a fake name.

In the next video, the ongoing encounter sees the man tell her that he "couldn't help but notice" that she was sitting on her own.

In a bid to get him to leave, @maassassin_ tells the guy that she is in the middle of a TikTok live - fortunately, he then decides to make a move.

As he leaves another male voice can be heard enquiring what the matter is, to which the intruder tells him: "I was just saying 'hey' to her".

While the second man refers to @maassassin_ as his niece - presumably in order to prevent the first man from engaging further - the TikToker reveals to her followers that he is actually a friend of hers and was watching the scene unfold from the balcony.

People have since taken to Twitter to applaud the teen and also to condemn the man for making her feel uncomfortable.

One wrote: "You handled yourself brilliantly—esp never having gone thru it b4...clearly irritated but not doing/saying anything to escalate.

"BUT THE FACT THAT YOU EVEN HAD TO MAKES MY BLOOD RUN COLD. Goddamn this man. Disgusting. I’m so sorry."

A third wrote: "The level of discomfort this poor girl is feeling makes me sad. The other day my 15-year-old daughter said 'I wish I could walk home without men calling stuff out the window to me. I just want to walk to my friends’ house and not be creeped out.'"

A male Twitter user weighed in, writing: "I'm a 6'3", 230lb man with no social anxieties that I can identify, and if this guy had sat down next to me, I'd be honestly creeped out too.

"Just the cadence and tone of his speaking would have skeeved me out. Im tellin ya, women, we don't deserve you on this planet."

In an update video, the young TikToker tells her followers that she had spoken to a staff member at the front desk of the hotel where the encounter occurred.

The staff member revealed to @maassassin_ that she knew of the man and promised to tell him to "leave people alone".

In another update, she revealed that the man looked between 25-30 and that she felt uncomfortable during the entire interaction.

The social media user assured her followers that she was away from the hotel where the encounter occurred. She also said the man who helped her stayed with her after the first man had left and made sure she was alright.

The teen then insisted that the interaction wasn't staged and that her "fear was real".

Featured image credit: cottonbro / Pexels

A troubling new TikTok trend has left parents, educators and online safety experts deeply concerned, with critics warning that teenagers are turning humiliation into entertainment.

What may look like harmless fun in a short video is, in reality, causing real harm to unsuspecting participants.

The challenge typically begins with a group of teens dancing, before handing their phone to an unsuspecting bystander under the guise of asking them to film.

After a few seconds, one teen abruptly flips the camera toward the person holding the phone, capturing their startled or awkward reaction.

That clip (often featuring someone who believed they were simply helping) is then posted publicly online for laughs.

Once uploaded, the humiliation only deepens as strangers flood the comment section with reactions, often mocking the person who never agreed to be filmed in the first place.

Credit: News.com.au

Creators and Viewers Call Out the Trend as Bullying

Backlash against the trend has grown rapidly.

TikTok users have criticized the challenge for preying on introverted teens, quieter classmates, or simply those kind enough to offer assistance.

The setup, they say, turns kindness into embarrassment.

Jools Lebron, creator of last year’s viral “very demure” trend, condemned the challenge in an emotional video. “All I just see is a bunch of faces of people who are just trying to help,” she said through tears.

Another creator, @keith_toks, called it the most “degrading trend” the platform has seen.

“This is not just kids having fun; this is kids getting away with bullying and then posting it on social media for everybody to see,” he said.

One viral video posted by @dreyysiller shows an American mother sternly warning her two preteens not to participate in the challenge.

“I’d better not catch you doing anything like that,” she tells them, emphasizing the seriousness of the issue.

According to bullying prevention advocates, her reaction is far from overblown.

Why Experts Say the Trend Crosses the Line Into Cruelty

Janet Grima, CEO of Bully Zero Australia, told news.com.au that the trend targets those least equipped to handle public embarrassment.

“The humor relies on them looking awkward or surprised, and that’s when it crosses from playful to cruel,” she said.

“It’s basically social humiliation dressed up as content.”

Grima warned that the normalization of this behavior is part of a larger shift in online culture.

“What was once clearly recognized as bullying is now often described as a ‘trend’ or a ‘challenge,’” she noted.

Because social platforms reward content that provokes a reaction, videos that embarrass others spread quickly – reinforcing the idea that public shaming is harmless entertainment.

Credit: News.com.au

Why Parents Need to Talk to Kids Now

Grima stressed the importance of proactive conversations at home.

“Consent matters online just as much as it does in real life,” she said.

Kids need to understand that secretly filming someone (especially for viral content) can cause real emotional harm.

She added that children should feel empowered to decline participation.

“If someone tries to hand them a phone or drag them into a video, they can say no.”

How Viewers Can Help Shut the Trend Down

For those who encounter these videos while scrolling, Grima offered a simple but powerful piece of advice: do not engage.

“The algorithm rewards attention,” she said.

“Don’t like it, don’t comment, don’t share it.”

Reporting the content is also essential.

TikTok’s policies explicitly prohibit bullying and harassment, and most videos associated with this trend fall squarely under those violations.

As the debate continues, parents, creators, and safety advocates are urging TikTok users to rethink what they choose to amplify – and the real people impacted behind every so-called “joke.”

Featured image credit: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images.

A group of women have gone viral after confronting a man who took photographs of them without their consent.

TikTok user @maiphammy took to the social media app on June 19 to share a video of the incident, writing: "Stay safe out there ladies. Decided to confront a creep taking pics of us when we were just trying to hang by the pool. HE TRIED DENYING IT."

The video opens with a voiceover that says: "Confronting a creep for taking pictures of us at the pool", however, at the beginning, he pretends to not understand what the women are talking about.

"Excuse me, I’d really appreciate it if you deleted the photos of us off your phone," one of the women says to the man.

The man then responds by saying that he "didn't understand" what they were talking about and that he was simply innocently lounging by the pool.

They then tell him that if he is as innocent as he claims to be, he will have no issue showing them his camera roll, and it's then that he admits that he did take the pictures, but promises to delete them.

"No, delete them right in front of our face," one of the women replies, and it's at this point that, while shaking, he agrees to delete the pictures.

As he deleted the images, he described the women as "intimidating" and asked them to walk away from him.

They said that they weren't trying to upset him, they just wanted to ensure that the photographs were being deleted as they had requested.

It wasn't long before the TikTok video became viral on the app, racking up more than 738.8K times, and thousands of comments, at the time of writing.

One viewer wrote: "You guys did the best thing you're so brave."

A second added: "Dude got Parkinson in 20 seconds."

A third wrote: "He's probably scared because he has a lot of pictures from other girls as well."

A fourth added: "That man almost died on camera."

Meanwhile, a fifth rightfully pointed out: "He said it's intimidating for you to stand behind him like it's not even more intimidating for girls to have pictures taken of them like this."

Hopefully, this incident will put others off taking photographs without people's consent.

Featured image credit: Alamy / True Images

A Starbucks barista has gone viral after sharing his bizarre technique for flirting with customers.

TikTok user @boybellers took to the social media app to explain why you should pay close attention to your Starbucks cup if you think your barista is flirting with you.

Per The Mirror, the video racked up over a million views since it was posted. But the TikTok user has since deleted the clip from his profile, though it is available on other social media platforms.

In the clip, he says: "If you're ever wondering if your barista's flirting with you, this is how to find out right."

The barista then showed off a standard-looking white Starbucks cup that featured boxes for all the usual extras like milk, syrup, and a number of caffeine shots.

He then points out a piece of text that reads: "Careful, the beverage you're about to enjoy is extremely hot".

The TikTok user explains that if your barista is hoping to catch your eye, they will alter this text so that it reads: "Careful, you're extremely hot".

He then advised those watching: "Check your cups guys."

Reacting to the original video, one TikTok user related to the clip: "I DO THIS TO CUSTOMERS!"

Meanwhile, a second admired coffee customer added: "My barista always does this to me."

However, a third commenter explained that this seemingly innocent flirting technique could have serious consequences, which may explain why the original TikTok was deleted.

"I would really suggest not doing that," they wrote. "Because if they get burned from the drink they can technically sue because the warning was covered."

A fourth TikTok user similarly wrote: "Imagine being burnt by the coffee and then being able to sue because they crossed out the disclaimer."

The Mirror reports that the social media user said after posting the video that he had personally not crossed out the message to flirt with customers, but he knew other baristas who had.

Has your Starbucks barista ever flirted with you in this way? Let us know in the comments.

Featured image credit: Alamy / MShieldsPhotos

A new viral trend has emerged on social media this week, which sees people attempt to place their palm on their shoulders... and fail miserably.

The deceptively-simple stunt first emerged earlier this week, when a TikTok user named Lauren Murphy shared a video with her 23,800 followers showing her attempting to pull it off.

In the original video, Lauren can be seen attempting to place the palm of her hand flat against her shoulder. Yet, despite her best efforts, the footage shows her unable to pull it off, struggling as though her hand were being deflected by an invisible force field.

Lauren captioned her post simply: "I just found out you can’t touch your palm to your shoulder."

Lauren's video quickly went viral and has accrued over 2.6 million views, 96,400 reactions, 12,000 shares, and a further 9,000 comments from other TikTok users as of the time of writing.

In the comments, a number of viewers agreed with Lauren, after attempting the feat themselves, that it was a lot harder than it looked.

For instance, one person wrote: "I thought I could do it but I realized it was my fingers not my palm touching and now I'm stuck. [sic]"

Meanwhile, someone else wrote: "AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO ALSO CAN'T DO IT? [sic]"

Another person chimed in: "okay i can't do it y'all making me upset."

However, other TikTok users didn't appear to see what all the fuss was about in the first place.

For instance, one person wrote: "I can do that [...] it's because im double jointed in the arms [sic]"

Another person stated: "Sounds like a y problem cus I can do it [sic]"

Finally, someone else wrote: "Maybe I'm broken because I can lol."

However, when these TikTok users claimed to be able to do the stunt, other commenters remained skeptical.

For example, one TikTok user stated: "There's no way every single one of y'all sating you can do it are actually doing it to the same shoulder, not the opposite."

Meanwhile, another person added: "[Why is] everyone saying they can do it, but I haven't seen a single person actually do it?"

A number of viewers of the video have since taken to Twitter to voice their frustration and amazement over the difficulty of the challenge.

For instance, one person wrote: "just saw on tik tok that you can’t touch your palm to your shoulder. i feel like i don’t even know myself anymore [sic]"

Another person wrote: "Did you know you can’t touch your palm to your shoulder?" in a caption for their own failed attempt.

Finally, another person added: "can yall touch ur palm to ur shoulder like this i need to know. [sic]"

So, are you up to the task? Or do you find it impossible? Give this challenge a try yourself and let us know your results in the comments below.