The eight- and nine-year-old girls suffocated to death in the popular “Blackout Challenge” on TikTok.
After the deaths of two children in the “Blackout Challenge”, their parents sued the video platform Tiktok in the US. “Tiktok must be held responsible for distributing deadly content to the two girls,” said attorney Matthew Bergman. The “Blackout Challenge” is about choking until you pass out – an eight-year-old from Texas and a nine-year-old from Wisconsin died last year.
The lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles court last week, accuses Tiktok of “deliberately and repeatedly” spreading the “Blackout Challenge”. Tiktok has invested billions of dollars and knowingly developed products that distribute dangerous content, which in turn can lead to the death of its users, he said.
Tiktok’s algorithm suggested the girls challenge – after which they strangled each other to death – one with a rope, the other with a dog collar.
Child deaths in Italy, Australia and other countries have also been linked to choking gambling, according to the lawsuit.
There are numerous challenges on Tiktok where participants are asked to perform dangerous actions which they are asked to film and then post the videos online.
Another dangerous challenge is the “Skull Breaker Challenge”, where people are kicked off their legs while jumping so that instead of falling on their feet, they fall and injure their heads.
Tiktok, owned by Chinese company Bytedance, initially did not respond to a request for comment.
(APA/DPA)