{"id":428519,"date":"2026-09-07T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/428519\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T05:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T05:00:13","slug":"viral-cat-in-the-hat-trend-sparks-school-safety-concerns-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/428519\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral \u2018Cat in the Hat\u2019 trend sparks school safety concerns in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Viral \"Viral \"\" <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Viral “Cat in the Hat” trend sparks safety concerns <\/p>\n

HOUSTON, TX – Law enforcement agencies and school districts across Texas are warning families about a viral social media trend involving threatening messages directed toward schools, students and communities.<\/p>\n

The trend, referred to as the “Cat in the Hat” trend, involves AI-generated or digitally altered images and videos showing someone dressed as the Dr. Seuss character making threatening statements.<\/p>\n

In the past week, several police departments and school districts across the state have issued warnings about the posts.<\/p>\n

Premont Police in South Texas shared a warning on Facebook, saying the trend involves threatening or frightening messages aimed at schools and communities.<\/p>\n

Authorities say children are editing, recreating and reposting the videos to make it appear as though the character was spotted near their school or neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Officials say more than 10 juveniles have been arrested nationwide in connection with similar posts.<\/p>\n

\"\" Law enforcement warns threats are taken seriously <\/p>\n

Juan Guevara, a tech expert, says investigators can use several methods to identify who is responsible for creating or sharing threatening posts, even when artificial intelligence is involved.<\/p>\n

Guevara says investigators may look at information connected to a person\u2019s phone, smart devices and social media accounts. He says law enforcement can also use digital records and other investigative tools to help track where posts originated.<\/p>\n

Authorities stress that social media threats are not considered a joke.<\/p>\n

Any online post that contains a threat or causes fear within a school or community can be investigated. Depending on the circumstances, authorities say those responsible could face school discipline or criminal charges.<\/p>\n

So far, FOX 26 has not learned of any reported cases connected to the trend in the Houston area.<\/p>\n

Authorities are urging parents to talk with their children about using social media responsibly and to remind them that posts made online can have serious consequences.<\/p>\n

News<\/a>Social Media<\/a>Artificial Intelligence<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What we know: Viral “Cat in the Hat” trend sparks safety concerns HOUSTON, TX – Law enforcement agencies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3436,223,702,3621,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-428519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-news","tag-social-media","tag-technology","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}