TikTok Blackout challenge: The girls were 8 and 9 when they died last year after viewing the challenge, which encouraged users to choke themselves until they passed out, according to the lawsuit,
The parents of two girls who said their children died as a result of a “blackout challenge” on TikTok are suing the company, claiming its algorithm intentionally served the children dangerous content that led to their deaths.
The girls were 8 and 9 when they died last year after viewing the challenge, which encouraged users to choke themselves until they passed out, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Superior Court in Los Angeles County.
The suit claims TikTok knew or should have known that its product was “addictive,” that it was directing children to harmful content, and that it failed to take significant action to stop those videos or to warn children and parents about them.
The complaint cites in particular TikTok’s “For You” page, which the complaint says shows a stream of videos selected by an algorithm developed by TikTok that is based on a user’s demographic, “likes” and prior activity on the app. The suit seeks unspecified damages.
TikTok needs to be held accountable for pushing deadly content to these two young girls, said Matthew P. Bergman, founding lawyer of the Social Media Victims Law Center, a private law firm created in November to hold social media companies accountable for harming children.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company would not comment on continuing litigation. But the spokesperson referred to a statement from December, when People Magazine reported that a mother from Pennsylvania said her 10-year-old daughter had died while trying the blackout challenge.
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, said the statement, which linked to a federal report about deaths from a “choking game” from 1995 to 2007. “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.”
Social media sites like TikTok promote content based on a user’s preferences, said Dr. Lois Lee, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention. Without parental controls, children can be exposed to a range of content, including videos they may not understand, she said.
The academy recommends that parents monitor their children’s social media use and limit screen time as much as possible. When children see many “likes” on a challenge video, Lee said, they may think it’s safe or fun to try, without understanding the consequences.
Elementary school-aged children do not have the knowledge or the insight to realize that these are dangerous things to do, she said.
One of the girls named in the lawsuit, Lalani Erika Walton, 8, of Temple, Texas, was described in the suit as a sweet and outgoing child who loved dressing up as a princess and playing with makeup. She wanted to be a famous rapper like Cardi B.
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