Parents sue TikTok after 7 children die over profitable Blackout Challenge videos

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After the first child died of self-strangulation while attempting a recommended "Blackout Challenge", TikTok could have taken many steps to immediately protect other children from the same fate. Instead, a new lawsuit filed in California says TikTok chose to continue profiting from promoting what is now described as its deadliest challenge, directly causing the deaths of six more children in 2021.

The lawsuit was brought by the parents of two of the children, girls aged 8 and 9. They claim their children became addicted to TikTok, received a constant stream of seemingly innocuous challenge videos persuading them to participate, and then died after attempting the Blackout Challenge. (The Blackout Challenge encourages TikTok users to post videos where they choke until they pass out.)

Rather than blaming creators of harmful videos or going after TikTok for posting videos, the lawsuit instead seeks damages from TikTok for the design of its product, which directs children to videos .

In a statement, the parents' legal team at the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) summarized the lengthy complaint: "The lawsuit alleges that TikTok's flawed design of its social media product results in an addictive product. which is unsafe for users and fails to warn minors and their parents that TikTok is addictive and pushes harmful content to their "For You" page that could endanger their well-being."

TikTok did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment, but a TikTok spokesperson told The New York Times that "the company will not comment on the continued litigation." The spokesperson also linked an earlier statement from the company to People magazine about a 10-year-old girl who also died after attempting the Blackout Challenge. At that time, TikTok said the "worrying challenge" predated their platform and never became "a TikTok trend". Expressing its "sincere condolences" to the family affected by this matter, TikTok pledged to "remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety" and to "immediately remove related content if found".

The lawsuit tells a different story, pointing out that "the 'Blackout Challenge' is currently untraceable on TikTok's social media product," proving the videos could have been deleted after TikTok learned of the first death. Instead, the company chose not to take this or any previous action to limit children's exposure to the challenge, even though "the cost of integrating age verification and identity in TikTok's product would be negligible".

Parents want TikTok to pay for their kids' addiction, demanding a jury trial to decide if TikTok's design should change. The damages sought at present are not specified, but should cover intangible losses suffered by the children before their death, as well as loss of "future earning capacity" and "normal pursuits, pursuits and pleasures". " of every child.

"TikTok must be held accountable for serving deadly content to these two young girls," said SMVLC attorney Matthew P. Bergman, who is on the parents' legal team. "TikTok has invested billions of dollars to intentionally design products that deliver dangerous content that it knows is harmful and can lead to the death of its users."

Parents suing TikTok say it's obvious that when kids post videos of themselves, they're too young for TikTok. The lawsuit claims that the platform knows that "hundreds of thousands of children as young as 6 are currently using its social media product", but does not attempt to terminate the accounts of users under 12, as this would reduce the company's advertising revenue. /p>

"TikTok has information and knowledge that can determine with reasonable certainty [sic] each user's age, habits and the like...