July 13, 2022 – TikTok, a platform synonymous with bite-sized videos and challenges aimed at capturing and imitating viral trends that time and again set off a flurry of craze on social media, is facing lawsuits from parents whose children reportedly died after taking part in the controversial and highly dangerous “blackout challenge” which, though not indigenous or exclusive to TikTok, encourages users to choke themselves until they pass out on the screen.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, has altered the face of entertainment around the world, making easy-to-use tools for content production and sharing more accessible and, by extension, more inclusive. The platform, boasting nearly two billion active users, has penetrated into the realms of conventional entertainment and social media, including Facebook, that dominated the digital sphere long before TikTok hit the market.
But like other leading social networking platforms, TikTok too has failed to steer clear of media scrutiny and criticism directed at their lack of a mechanism that ensures timely and effective content moderation. Among TikTok’s many innocuous trends, which grow wildly popular among teenagers and adults in no time, are also challenges that pose grave dangers to the lives of young TikTokers due to their graphic nature – such as the infamous blackout challenge. It “encourages users to choke themselves with belts, purse strings, or anything similar until passing out”, and has reportedly resulted in incidents of self-strangulation, leading to several lawsuits being filed against the video-sharing platform.
According to a report published by The Verge last week, the blackout challenge has allegedly killed seven children, whose parents say they died of strangulation after taking the challenge. One case filed against TikTok in June claims that at least seven children, all aged below 15 years, lost their lives to the dangerous challenge last year. TikTok is now facing multiple lawsuits from their parents, who blame the damage on TikTok’s algorithm, accusing the company of pushing dangerous trends. The deaths from the deadly online challenge in 2021 occurred in Italy, Colorado, Australia, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.
In the complaints, TikTok has been accused of “pushing exceedingly and unacceptably dangerous challenges”, “programming children for the sake of corporate profits and promoting addiction”, and of having “specifically curated and determined that these blackout challenge videos – videos featuring users who purposefully strangulate themselves until losing consciousness – are appropriate and fitting for small children”. The most recent case, filed by the parents of an eight-year-old, cites the deaths of these other children as evidence of how TikTok was aware of damage taking place on its platform through the controversial blackout challenge.
The latest suit also argues that since TikTok advertises and promotes some challenges, the platform has a “duty to monitor the videos and challenges shared, posted, and/or circulated on its app and platform to ensure that dangerous and deadly videos and challenges were not posted, shared, circulated, recommended, and/or encouraged.”
In a statement, TikTok Spokesperson Mahsau Cullinane clarified how the blackout challenge was not originally started on TikTok.
“This disturbing ‘challenge,’ which people seem to learn about from sources other than TikTok, long predates our platform and has never been a TikTok trend,” he said. “We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and would immediately remove related content if found. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family for their tragic loss.”
The statement added that the company has made it impossible to search for videos using the hashtag #BlackoutChallenge.
According to TikTok’s Community Guidelines (dangerous acts and challenges), the platform does not “permit users to share content depicting, promoting, normalizing or glorifying dangerous acts that may lead to serious injury or death”.
“We also do not allow content which promotes or endorses collective participation in dangerous or harmful activities that violate any aspect of our Community Guidelines.”
The guidelines further add that TikTok removes content that depicts suicide, involves suicidal ideation, or that might encourage suicidal or self-injurious behavior. “We also remove content that depicts attempted suicide or behavior likely to lead to self-inflicted death. We prohibit any form of content that promotes, normalises, or glorifies suicide, provides instructions for suicide, or posts that portray a suicide as heroic or honorable. Circumstances that involve any instance of a threat of real-world harm to human life that is specific, credible, and imminent may be reported to law enforcement authorities.”
Upon searching for the blackout challenge now, TikTok shows a warning message instead of related videos. “Some online challenges can be dangerous, disturbing, or even fabricated.” The user is then redirected to safety resources that provide information on how to assess warnings and challenges. They encourage users to report dangerous material as well. However, this still raises questions as to whether these measures are effective enough to prevent damages resulting from dangerous trends starting on TikTok or being imported onto the platform from other social media applications.
TikTok is one of the most popular and lucrative video-sharing social media applications today. It has not only helped bring widespread exposure to a number of aspiring entertainers, enabling them to elevate an industry of their own, but has also opened up a range of monetary avenues empowering small businesses, especially in countries where the internet is relatively a new phenomenon. But apart from creative content on the platform, TikTok has been called out for trends (often involving drugs and severe physical strain) that have proven to be life-threatening, particularly for young people looking for quick fame on the fast-growing platform.
