Two girls died from TikTok’s “blackout challenge”: families sue the social network

TikTok was sued by the families of two girls who allegedly died as a result of a viral challenge. The families they claim that the application’s “dangerous” algorithms are responsible for the deaths of their daughters.

The two girls, aged eight and nine, died while participating in a “blackout challenge” which went viral on TikTok last year and claimed the lives of several children.

The challenge encouraged users to suffocate themselves unaware, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The families are demanding unspecified damages and have asked for a jury trial in California.

Families claim that the “dangerous algorithm of the platform pushed intentionally and repeatedly” video of the challenge in the children’s feed, encouraging them to participate in the challenge that ultimately ended their lives.

“TikTok must be held responsible for spreading deadly content to these two young women,” said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), a legal resource for parents of children affected by addiction and abuse. . social networks.

“TikTok has spent billions of dollars to intentionally design products that push dangerous content that it knows is dangerous and can lead to the death of its users,” the lawyer added.

Lalani Erika Renee Walton, An eight-year-old girl from Texas died on July 15, 2021 in what police have determined to be “the direct result of TikTok’s” blackout challenge “attempt,” according to the complaint.

Lalani had received a phone for her eighth birthday in April 2021 and “She quickly became addicted to watching TikTok videos”, according to the complaint. She often posted videos of herself as she sang and danced, hoping to become “famous on TikTok”.

She also believed that if she posted a video of herself doing the Blackout Challenge, she would become famous, so she decided to give it a try, “the complaint says. Lalani was eight at the time and did not appreciate or understand the dangerous nature of what TikTok was giving her. I was encouraging to do. “

The other victim named in the lawsuit was Arriani Jaileen Arroyo, a nine-year-old girl who had a phone when she was seven and became “slowly obsessed” with posting dance videos on TikTok and became “addicted” to the app.

On February 26, 2021, Arroyo was found breathless by her five-year-old brother and could not be resuscitated.

“TikTok knew indisputably that the deadly Blackout Challenge was spreading through its app and that its algorithm was specifically feeding the Blackout Challenge to children, including those who died,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit claims that TikTok’s algorithm promotes malicious content, allows underage users to access the app, and does not warn users or their legal guardians of the app’s addictive nature.

This is not the first lawsuit against the company, fueled by the “blackout challenge”. In May, the mother of a 10-year-old girl who drowned after participating in the dangerous challenge filed a manslaughter lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance.

And in the UK, the parents of Archie Batterbee they won an appeal to reconsider their “fight for the life of the child”.

A high court judge ruled earlier this month that the 12-year-old boy has died and life-support care must be suspended.

Archie, 12, was found numb with a neck tie at his Essex home on 7 April. He hasn’t regained consciousness since then. His family believes he may have participated in a dangerous online challenge.

Archie’s parents Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, of Southend, Essex, say the young man’s heart is still beating and want the treatment to continue.

Now, Judge Arbuthnot has given them permission to take the case to the Court of Appeals.