Lawsuit Alleges Death Of 10-Year-Old Caused By TikTok "Blackout Challenge"

A mother is action TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for nonperformance in the case of her girl ’s death allegedly being associate to one of the " challenges " that often go viral on the platform .

Tawainna   Anderson ’s wrongful destruction lawsuit allege that her   10 - year - old died after seeing the so - called " Blackout Challenge " on the platform , before falling unconscious while essay the challenge herself . After five days of intensive upkeep , she died   on December 7 , 2021 . The lawsuit alleges that the app ’s " faulty innovation " of its algorithm is to blame for expose daughter Nylah to the content .

" The viral and deadly TikTok Blackout Challenge was pierce in front of Nylah on her TikTok For You Page … as a final result of TikTok ’s algorithm , " the lawsuitseen by NBC Newssaid .

" The TikTok Defendants ’ algorithm learn that the deadly Blackout Challenge was well - tailored and potential to be of interest to 10 - year - old Nylah Anderson , and she died as a result . "

As the name suggests , the challenge need holding your breath or asphyxiating yourself in some other manner until you pass out . The suit allegesthat there have been four other deaths attributed to the challenge , which involves people choking themselves with household items for a few seconds , and put down their supposedly euphoric reaction as they waken up .

As somewhat much every aesculapian expert will tell you , asphyxiation is very severe and can result in unconsciousness and expiry and is not urge , especially for Internet " likes " .

" I want to obligate this company accountable , " Tawainna enounce at apress conference . " It is time that these dangerous challenges come to an conclusion , that other families do n’t experience the heartbreak we live every day . "

The " blackout challenge " has been shared on other platforms , thelawsuit says , but forensic analysis of her phone show that she had realize the picture on TikTok .

TikTok has not commented on the suit , but in aprevious statementsaid   that it was a " distressing ' challenge , ' which people seem to take about from sources other than TikTok ,   long predates   our platform and has never been a TikTok vogue , " add that they are committed to removing depicted object related to the " blackout challenge " from their platform .